US EPA

2299979 

Technical Report 

Organotin compounds: industrial applications and biological investigation 

Piver, WT 

1973 

HAPAB/73/2678 

Health Perspect 

REF:41 

HAPAB. Much of the toxicological investigation of organotin compounds has centered on the trialkyl-, triaryl-, and tetraalkyltin derivatives which are mainly used as biocides. With the exception of the acute oral toxicity (to the rat) for the trimethyl derivative, the toxicity of trialkyltin compounds decreases with increasing size and stability of the ligand. Guinea pig was more susceptible than the rat or rabbit, and the most toxic compound tested was triethyltin sulfate, which had an oral LD50 of 5 to 10 mg/kg. Muscular weakness was the main symptom of chronic poisoning, but there was no evidence of concentration of tin in any organ. A reversible accumulation of fluid in the white matter of the brain was observed. Bis-(tri-n-butyltin) oxide, administered in low concentrations on the eye of rabbits, had a very pronounced and irreversible effect on normal eye function and, administered in higher concentrations, resulted in death. Trimethyltin derivatives inhibited oxidative phosphorylation in rat liver mitochondria.