The biochemistry of organotin compounds. Effect of triethyltin sulphate on tissue phosphates in the rat

Abstract

The effect of fatal doses of triethyltin sulfate on the levels of the tissue phosphates and the distribution of injected P32 has been studied in the rat. The plasma inorganic phosphate level rose after triethyltin and this was attributed to a lowered renal function. The specific activity of the plasma inorganic phosphate was higher in the rats treated with triethyltin than in the controls and the penetration of the P32 into the brain was reduced. Its penetration into the liver was unaltered. The phosphate levels in the central nervous system were unaffected by triethyltin except insofar as they were altered by the changes in water content due to the accumulating interstitial edema. The adenosine triphosphate and diphosphate levels in the liver increased within a few hours of injecting triethyltin. In the central nervous system the relative specific activities of diphosphopyridine nucleotide, the lipid phosphate and the residual phosphate were reduced after triethyltin. In the liver the relative specific acitvity of the lipid phosphate was also reduced but that of the residual phosphate fraction was increased. These findings are discussed in their relation to the pharmacological effects of triethyltin and results of previous work in this laboratory on the action of triethyltin on isolated systems. No conclusion could be reached concerning the mechanism of action of triethyltin in the whole animal but it is thought that the hypothermic action of triethyltin may play an important part in producing the changes observed in the brain.