Distribution and Elimination of 14C‐Hexachlorobenzene after Single Oral Exposure in the Male Rat

Abstract

The distribution and excretion of 14C-hexachlorobenzene (14C-HCB) after administration to rats of a single oral dose of 50 .mu.Ci14C-HCB per kg body wt was studied by whole-body autoradiography and liquid scintillation counting. Radiolabeled HCB was distributed throughout the body in 2 h. Peak levels were found at 4 h in the liver and the brown fat, and at 24 h in the abdominal and subcutaneous fat. The highest concentrations were found in the adipose tissues, the bone marrow, the skin, the Harderian gland, the nasal mucosa, the preputial gland and the intestinal tract. After 90 days, substantial amounts were present only in the adipose tissue, the skin, the nasal mucosa and the preputial gland. Part of the radioactivity in the brown fat, the bone marow, the preputial gland, the adrenal gland, the liver, the blood, the kidney, the spleen, the lungs, the heart and the gastrointestinal contents was not evaporable on sections heated to 50.degree. for 24 h and was considered to represent metabolites of HCB. Some radioactivity remained in the liver, the kidney, the heart and the intestinal contents after evaporation and extraction of the sections with polar and nonpolar solvents and was supposed to reflect metabolites of HCB associated to tissue macromolecules. Besides urine and feces, the results indicated the following excretory pathways: intestinal mucosa, sebaceous glands, nasal mucosa, and the preputial and Harderian gland.