Transferable residues from dog fur and plasma cholinesterase inhibition in dogs treated with a flea control dip containing chlorpyrifos.

We studied chlorpyrifos, an insecticide present in a commercial dip for treating ectoparasites in dogs, to estimate the amount of transferable residues that children could obtain from their treated pets. Although the chlorpyrifos dip is no longer supported by the manufacturer, the methodology described herein can help determine transferable residues from other flea control insecticide formulations. Twelve dogs of different breeds and weights were dipped using the recommended guidelines with a commercial, nonprescription chlorpyrifos flea dip for 4 consecutive treatments at 3-week intervals (nonshampoo protocol) and another 12 dogs were dipped with shampooing between dips (shampoo protocol). The samples collected at 4 hr and 7, 14, and 21 days after treatment in the nonshampoo protocol averaged 971, 157, 70, and 26 microg chlorpyrifos, respectively; in the shampoo protocol the samples averaged 459, 49, 15, and 10 microg, respectively. The highest single sample was about 7,000 microg collected at 4 hr. The pretreatment specific activities in the plasma of the dogs were about 75 nmol/min/mg protein for butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and 9 nmol/min/mg protein for acetylcholinesterase (AChE). BChE was inhibited 50-75% throughout the study, and AChE was inhibited 11-18% in the nonshampoo protocol; inhibition was not as great in the shampoo protocol. There was no correlation (p<or= 0.05) between length of hair and residues measured that would explain the residue differences among dogs. Transferable residues had largely dissipated during the three weeks after treatment, with the largest decrease occurring during the first week. Greater plasma ChE inhibition was observed at 7 days than at 4 hr, probably reflecting the bioactivation of chlorpyrifos to chlorpyrifos-oxon. Plasma cholinesterase activity did not return to control levels during the 3-week period. The differences between the shampoo and nonshampoo protocols were explained by differences in the techniques of the dip applicators.