Propoxur is a carbamate insecticide and an inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase.1 It is lethal to German cockroaches (B. germanica) with LD50 values of 2.45, 4.73, and 1.06 μg per insect for newly emerged males, newly emerged females, and 4-week-old nymphs, respectively. Propoxur induces lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release from and inhibits the growth of flounder gill cells (IC50s = 86.59 and 89.96 μg/ml, respectively) via induction of necrosis.2 It also induces yolk sac and pericardial edema in zebrafish embryos when used at concentrations of 100 and 200 μg/ml. Propoxur (8.3 mg/kg) inhibits rat blood and brain cholinesterase, decreases ambulation and rearing in an open field test, and increases latency to escape foot shock after an audio stimulus in the two-way active avoidance box in rats.3
1.Qian, K., Wei, X., Zeng, X., et al.Stage-dependent tolerance of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica for dichlorvos and propoxuJ. Insect Sci.10(1)201(2010) 2.Pandey, M.R., and Guo, H.Evaluation of cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and embryotoxicity of insecticide propoxur using flounder gill (FG) cells and zebrafish embryosToxicol. In Vitro28(3)340-353(2014) 3.Thiesen, F.V., Barros, H.M.T., Tannhauser, M., et al.Behavioral changes and cholinesterase activity of rats acutely treated with propoxurJpn. J. Pharmacol.79(1)25-31(1999)