With the objective to assess whether repeated non-toxic doses of sodium monofluoroacetate (MFA) induce resistance to poisoning by this compound, 18 sheep were randomly divided into two experimental groups of nine animals each. Sheep from Group 1 ingested non-lethal increasing doses of MFA for six periods: 0.05mg/kg for 5 days; 0.08mg/kg for 4 days; 0.08mg/kg for 4 days; 0.1mg/kg for 3 days; 0.1mg/kg for 3 days and 0.25mg/kg for 3 days. Between the first and second period of administration and between the second and third period the animals did not receive MFA for 10 consecutive days, between the third and fourth period and during the remaining periods of administration the sheep were left 15 days without ingesting MFA. Group 2 was not adapted to the ingestion of MFA and received a single dose of 1mg/kg of MFA at the same time that Group 1 was challenged. After challenge, seven sheep of Group 1 showed clinical signs of poisoning and one sheep recovered. In Group 2, all animals showed clinical signs of poisoning by MFA, however two sheep recovered. The mortality rate was 66.6% in Group 1 and 77.7% for Group 2. These results suggest that repeated administration of non-toxic doses of MFA does not protect against acute poisoning by this compound; therefore other alternatives of prophylaxis for poisoning by plants containing MFA should be searched, mainly the use of intraruminal bacteria that hydrolyze MFA.
Sodium Monofluoroacetate; plant poisoning; Palicourea spp.; Amorimia spp.; Tanaecium bilabiatum; induced resistance; sheep
