Distribution and effect of some polychlorinated biphenyls in the hemopoietic tissues.

Distribution of 14C-labeled 2,4',5-trichlorobiphenyl 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl, and 2,2',3,3',4,4',5,6'-octachlorobiphenyl was studied in the hematopoietic tissues of squirrel monkey and mice (C67 Bl) using whole-body autoradiography. An accumulation of radioactivity was seen in the bone marrow of monkey 24 h and 48 h after iv injection of hexachlorobiphenyl and trichlorobiphenyl, respectively. High concentration of radioactivity was also observed in the bone marrow of normal mice injected iv with octachlorobiphenyl. A combination of whole-body autoradiography and spleen-colony assay in supralethally irradiated mice implanted with syngeneic bone-marrow cells indicated the major part of radioactivity to be localized outside the bone-marrow hemic compartment, probably in the fat. No effect of hexachlorobiphenyl but a significant inhibition with octachlorobiphenyl (10(-5) M) and especially trichlorobiphenyl (10(-5) M) was seen on the formation of granulocytic colonies from mouse progenitor cells in vitro.