Inhibition of metabolic cooperation in Chinese hamster cells by organochlorine pesticides.

Effects of organochlorine pesticides on the metabolic cooperation in the hypoxanthine-guanine-phosphoribosyl-transferase system using wild-type 6-thioguanine-sensitive V79 cells and variant 6-thioguanine-resistant cells were surveyed. The metabolic cooperation was inhibited by 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT), 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (TDE), 1,1,1-trichloro-2-(o-chlorophenyl)-2-(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (o,p'-DDT), 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-methoxyphenyl)ethane (methoxychlor), aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, alpha-isomer of benzene hexachloride (alpha-BHC), and gamma-BHC, but not beta-BHC. The present results suggest that the pesticides which inhibited the metabolic cooperation may be tumor promoters.