Storage of organochlorine inseticides in hepatosplenic schistosomiasis

Abstract

This paper reports on the fin dings of a survey on OCI storage in people in Bahia, Brasil. In During th e p ast decade th e storage of organochlorine insecticides (OCI) in the adipose tissue has been recognized as a ubiquitous phenomenon. (6) The am ount of OCI stored in the adi pose tissue of an individual is determ ined by th e exposure intensity to these com pounds and th e body's effectiveness in detoxifying them . I t has been shown th a t in dividual factors like age, sex, race and physiological states influence the OCI sto rage process.Concom itant exposure to other xenobiotios (drugs, other pesticides, etc.) quantitatively affect th e am ount of liver enzymes available for th e metabolization of OCI and m ay thus interfere with the pro cess of th eir metabolization.Early studies on th e influence of pathological states of th e body on OCI sto rage were unable to show any evidence for such an affect (4, 3). Later reports have, however, dem onstrated increased OCI sto rage in cases of hypertension and m alignant disease (1,2,5) This paper reports on a survey of OCI storage in a group of hospital patients in Bahia, Brasil who underw ent surgery in 1969 -70. By chance, a large num ber of these underw ent splenectomy for hepato splenic schistosomiasis and provided the opportunity to investigate the influence of this disease on the storage of OCI in adi pose tissue.