The distribution of 2,21,3,4,41,61, and 2,31, 4,41,51,6- hexachlorobiphenyl in mice studied by whole-body autoradiography.

The distribution of 14C-labelled hexachlorobiphenyl in male and pregnant female mice was studied by whole-body autoradiography and liquid scintillation counting. Shortly after an intravenous injection there was a strong uptake of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in the corpora lutea, the adrenal cortex and the liver and radioactivity was retained fro a long time in these tissues. Even in the fetal adrenal cortex a considerable accumulation occurred. High activity was also present in the brown fat, the lung, the the myocardium, the gastric mucosa, the pituitary and the bone marrow. Radioactivity penetrated slowly to the brain and fetal tissues but the concentration remained consistently low. In the adipose tissues there was a gradual increase in radioactivity and the autoradiograms from the longer survival times were dominated by these sites. There was a continuous biliary excretion of labelled material to the small intestine; this occurred in the fetuses as well.