Investigation of HCB as a metabolite from female rats treated daily for six days with lindane.

The biotransformation of lindane to hexachlorobenzene (HCB) by male rats was recently reported. Since HCB has been widely detected in human milk samples, and since the transplacental transfer of HCB to the fetus has been demonstrated in several species, the metabolism of lindane to HCB in female rats was investigated. Young adult female Fischer 344 rats were dosed p.o. with either 20 mg lindane/kg/day or an equivalent volume of the peanut oil vehicle. Feces samples were collected daily for two consecutive 4-hr intervals and a 16-hr interval. Twenty-four hours after the final treatment, all rats were sacrificed and adipose tissue samples were excised at necropsy. Extracts of fat and feces samples were analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) on column packings of different polarity. Results of this study indicated that no significant biotransformation of lindane to HCB occurred in the female Fischer 344 rat.