Effect of potassium ethylxanthate and sodium diethyldithiocarbamate on the accumulation and disposition of nickel in the brown trout (Salmo trutta).

Brown trouts, Salmo trutta, were exposed to water containing 0.1 or 10 micrograms/l of 63Ni2+, alone or with potassium ethylxanthate or sodium diethyldithiocarbamate. After one and three weeks the accumulation and disposition of the 63Ni2+ in the fish were examined by liquid scintillation spectrometry and whole-body autoradiography. The sodium diethyldithiocarbamate was found to greatly enhance the uptake of 63Ni2+ in several tissues of the trouts. Potassium ethylxanthate was without effect. Diethyldithiocarbamate is known to form lipophilic complexes with metals, including nickel, and a facilitated penetration of the complexed nickel over the cellular membranes of the gills and other tissues is a likely mechanism underlying our results. The ethylxanthate is also able to form a lipophilic nickel-chelate, although of a lower lipophilicity than the nickel-diethyldithiocarbamate-complex. This variance in lipophilicity may explain why the disposition of the 63Ni2+ was affected by the diethyldithiocarbamate, but not by the ethylxanthate.