DISTRIBUTION AND TISSUE ELIMINATION IN RATS DURING AND AFTER PROLONGED DIETARY EXPOSURE TO A HIGHLY FLUORINATED SULFONAMIDE PESTICIDE

Rats were fed either nonfortified, ground rodent feed or feed fortified with 75 mg of sulfluramid/kg of feed for 56 days and then were fed the nonfortified diet for an additional 35 days. Samples from nine tissues and blood samples were collected and analyzed by gas chromatography. No overt clinical signs of toxicity were observed during the study except for a significant decrease in body weight gained in the treated group compared to the controls. This difference appeared to result from a significant reduction in rate of weight gain during the first 2 weeks of treatment. Diet consumption was not significantly different for treated and control groups. There were no detectable levels of sulfluramid present in tissue or blood samples during the study, but its metabolite, deethylsulfluramid, was present, and changes in its concentration were associated with first-order elimination kinetics. The blood half-life of 10.8 days was greater than those for the solid tissues. The half-life for fat was 1.1 days. Though highly lipid soluble, neither sulfluramid nor deethylsulfluramid accumulated in the tissues of the rats during the 56-day dosing period.