[Concentration profile of PCBs in the digestive tract of rat fed with cholestyramine and rice bran fiber diet].

The aim of this study is to examine the inhibitory effect of rice bran fiber (RBF) and cholestyramine for intestinal absorption of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Sixteen rats were orally given at the dose of 100 mg of PCBs per kg of the animal, and were divided into four groups (A-D): Rats in each group were housed with the normal diet for the first 7 days, and subsequently, were given with the same diet as control for group A, with the diet containing 10% RBF for group B, with the diet containing 5% cholestyramine for group C and with the combined diet containing 10% RBF and 5% cholestyramine for group D for the next 10 days. All rats were sacrificed on the 17th day after PCBs administration, and PCBs in contents of the digestive tracts were determined: small and large intestine resected was divided into two parts each of the same length, and the contents were chemically analyzed to determine PCBs. PCBs concentration in rats of group A decreased in order of upper portions (1.0 microgram/g) and then lower (0.6 microgram/g) of small intestine, and upper (0.5 microgram/g) and then lower (0.4 microgram/g) of large intestine. Decreasing the PCBs concentration might be due to re-absorption in the intestine. In the case of groups B-D, PCBs concentration was in order of upper and then lower of small intestine, and large intestine. It was indicated that PCBs re-absorption in intestine is inhibited by the intake of RBF, cholestyramine, and RBF and cholestyramine.

[Therapeutic trial for promotion of fecal excretion of PCDFs and PCBs by the administration of cholestyramine in Yusho patients].

Any effective therapy for elimination of causal agents remaining in Yusho patients was not found until now. To know the profile of fecal excretion of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the amounts of PCDFs and PCBs in the stool of six Yusho patients with the typical symptoms were determined. The stool samples of Yusho patients were collected in 1989. PCDFs, i.e., 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran (TCDF), 2,3,4,7,8-pentachlorodibenzofuran (PnCDF), 1,2,3,4,7,8- and 1,2,3,6,7,8-hexachlorodibenzofurans (HxCDFs), 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-heptachlorodibenzofuran (HpCDF) and octachlorodibenzofuran (OCDF) were detected in all of the samples. PCDFs found in the stool samples were mostly PnCDF and HxCDFs. Of PCDFs detected, PnCDF and HxCDFs contributed to 42 +/- 4.7% and 43 +/- 5.5% as mean +/- SE, respectively. The fecal excretion of PnCDF and HxCDFs in Yusho patients was 720 +/- 490 pg/day and 790 +/- 620 pg/day as mean +/- SE, respectively. On the other hand, the fecal excretion of PnCDF and HxCDFs in normal controls was 32 +/- 13 pg/day and 47 +/- 5.2 pg/day as mean +/- SE, respectively. The fecal excretion of PnCDF and HxCDFs in Yusho patients was about 23 times and 17 times each higher than that in normal controls. The fecal excretion of PCBs in Yusho patients and normal controls was 400 +/- 430 ng/day and 150 +/- 39 ng/day, respectively, as mean +/- SE. In order to promote the excretion of these toxic chemicals in the stool of Yusho patients, the patients were continuously administered with cholestyramine, an anion exchange resin, at a dose of 4 g, 3 times a day, for 6 months.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)