title: Effects of TCDD on vitamin A status and liver microsomal enzyme activities in a TCDD-susceptible and a TCDD-resistant rat strain.
abstract: To investigate the relationship between vitamin A status and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) lethality, the influence of TCDD on tissue and serum vitamin A levels was determined in the most TCDD-susceptible (Long-Evans) and the most TCDD-resistant (Han/Wistar) rat strains. The TCDD LD50 values of these two strains differ by a factor of more than 300. Groups of three rats per strain were used in a dose-response study (given single ip doses of 0, 4, 40, 400, 800 or 1600 micrograms TCDD/kg body weight and killed on day 11) and in a time-course experiment (given single ip doses of 0, 4 and, in the case of Han/Wistar rats only, 1600 micrograms TCDD/kg body weight, and killed on days 4, 11, 23, 50 and 76). The strains showed similar response over the 76-day study with respect to vitamin A levels in the liver, kidneys, testicles and serum after exposure to a sublethal dose of TCDD (4 micrograms/kg body weight). In contrast, TCDD doses lethal to the Long-Evans strain only (40-1600 micrograms/kg, day 11) markedly increased kidney and serum vitamin A levels in Han/Wistar rats, while they were practically without effect in Long-Evans rats. Hepatic cytochrome P-450 concentration, and the activities of 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase, ethylmorphine N-demethylase, and uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase (towards p-nitrophenol) were affected by the TCDD doses in much the same manner in both strains. These findings show that the correlations between TCDD lethality and changes in vitamin A status found among species of laboratory animals do not hold for Long-Evans and Han/Wistar strains of rat.
authors.affiliation: National Public Health Institute, Department of Environmental Hygiene and Toxicology, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pohjanvirta
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Håkansson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Juvonen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tuomisto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000378:metabolism; D004147:Dioxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005037:Ethylmorphine-N-Demethylase / Q000378:metabolism; D014453:Glucuronosyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008862:Microsomes, Liver / Q000201:enzymology*; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000187:drug effects*; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000378:metabolism; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004147:Dioxins; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins; D014801:Vitamin A; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; D010088:Oxidoreductases; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1; D005037:Ethylmorphine-N-Demethylase; D014453:Glucuronosyltransferase