Table 1.

Median lethal doses (LD50s) for the nerve agents VX, soman and sarin in neonatal, prepubertal and adult guinea pigs of both sexes.

		LD50s (μg/kg)
		VX	Soman	Sarin
PND5-10	Male	9.15 (8.61 – 9.90)	25.1 (24.2 – 26.1)	37.7 (35.9 – 39.4)
	Female	9.94 (9.51 – 9.89)	25.9 (23.9 – 32.0)	36.2 (34.2 – 38.2)
PND35-45	Male	8†	28†	42†
	Female	8.05 (7.73 – 9.77)	26.2 (25.7 – 26.8)	33.9 (29.3 – 36.5)
PND120-150	Male	6.67 (6.13 – 7.17)	24.9 (24.0 – 26.9)	31.7 (29.0 – 33.7)
	Female	9.37 (8.49 – 10.1)	27.0 (25.2 – 29.7)	39.6 (34.6 – 46.5)

Agents were injected subcutaneously between the shoulder blades of the animals and 24-h survival in each experimental group was computed. Using the software Stats Direct (StatsDirect Limited, Cheshire, UK), the resulting sigmoid dose-response relationships (see Figures 1, 2, and 3) were linearized by probit transformation to estimate LD50s for each nerve agent in the various animal groups. For each test dose, number of animals ranged from 4 to 12. Numbers in parentheses represent 95% confidence intervals for the estimated LD50s.

^†LD50 values are from the literature (Shih and McDonough, 2000).