Accumulation and declination of chlordane congeners in mice.

A metabolic experiment involving technical chlordane in mice was carried out in vivo by single and repeated oral administration. In the single oral dose group, residues of trans- and cis-chlordane in mouse whole body showed a maximum content at 5 hours after administration; thereafter, the body content decreased rapidly. For other congeners, the residues of trans- and cis-nonachlor reached a maximum at 10 hours, the residual levels forming a plateau. The intermediate metabolite oxychlordane was detected 1 hour after the administration of technical chlordane, the content in the mouse body increasing with time. In the repeated oral dose group, although technical chlordane was administered repeatedly, increases in trans- and cis-chlordane content were not observed for 29 days. On the other hand, the nonachlor and oxychlordane content increased gradually throughout the observation period. These findings suggest that the accumulation of nonachlors and oxychlordane in the animal body must be high and sufficient attention must be paid to their toxic effect.