Dear Editor, Acute toxicity of a drug can be determined by the calculation of LD50, i.e., the dose that will kill 50% of animals of a particular species. Recently, we reported the LD50 of thymoquinone, an active principle of Nigella sativa, in mice and rats by the method described by Miller and Tainter, 1944. Since then some post-graduate students and investigators have asked us to explain the ...

Effect concentrations in fish LC50 tests with directly acting electrophiles are lower than those of unreactive chemicals that act by narcosis. LC50 values of more hydrophobic reactive chemicals tend to approach those of unreactive chemicals. Quantitative studies to correlate fish LC50 data to physical-chemical properties indicate that LC50 values of reactive chemicals depend on hydrophobicity a...

Laboratory tests of fipronil and its degradation products have revealed acute lethal toxicity at very low concentrations (LC50) of <0.5 microg/L to selected aquatic macroinvertebrates. In streams draining basins with intensive rice cultivation in southwestern Louisiana, USA, concentrations of fipronil compounds were an order of magnitude larger than the LC50. The abundance (rho=-0.64; p=0.015) ...