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The metabolism of [1-2H]-1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDD-d) and [1-2H]-1-chloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethene (DDMU-d) and their corresponding non-deuterated isomers DDD and DDMU was studied in female Swiss mice over a 96-hr period. The only detected urinary metabolite of DDD-d and DDD was 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)acetic acid (DDA). Animals administered DDD excreted approximately 2.4-fold more DDA than those treated with DDD-d over the total collection period. The initial (0-36 hr) linear excretion rates of DDA for DDD and DDD-d were 17.1 and 5.5 micrograms/hr respectively. DDMU- and DDMU-d-treated mice excreted significant quantities of DDA, 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethanol (DDOH) and 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethanol (DDCHO). The only quantitative difference between DDMU and DDMU-d was that the non-deuterated isomer afforded approximately 1.8 times more DDA over the 96-hr collection. The initial (0-36 hr) linear excretion rates of DDMU and DDMU-d were 10.7 and 6.2 micrograms/hr respectively. The qualitative and quantitative results are consistent with DDD being metabolized to DDA via enzyme-mediated hydroxylation on the C-1 side chain carbon.

The effects of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and sixteen analogues on respiration, swelling and latent ATPase of rat liver mitochondria were examined systematically. The compounds tested could be divided into four groups: DDT-type, DDE-type, kelthane-type and others by substituent groups on the ethane bridge of bis(p-chlorophenyl) ethane. Most compounds tested were shown to inhibit State 3 respiration. A linear relation was observed between the logarithms of the concentrations giving half-inhibition of State 3 respiration and the logarithms of the partition coefficients of the tested compounds. Four compounds of the kelthane type and chlorobenzilate stimulated State 4 respiration to the level of dinitrophenol-stimulated respiration. The compounds that have a hydroxy group on the ethane bridge-rapidly induced mitochondrial swelling, but DDT-type and DDE-type compounds induced swelling when the suspension contained 0.15 M KCl and 5 mM Tris-HCl. Latent ATPase of mitochondria was stimulated to different maximum levels by each of the tested compounds except DDA. The oligomycin-sensitive ATPase of submitochondria was inhibited by a series of kelthane-type compounds.

The polar 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) metabolite, 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)acetic acid (DDA), and the phenoxyacetic acid herbicides, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), were previously shown to be accumulated to high levels in liver and kidney via the organic acid transport system, raising the possibility of organ-specific toxicity secondary to transport. In these studies, accumulation of DDA was shown to depress oxygen consumption by renal cortical slices at high doses (0.1 and 1mM). Isolated renal and hepatic mitochondria were uncoupled by low doses of DDA (5-10 nmoles/mg mitochondrial protein. Maximal uncoupling was seen at 50-70 nmoles/mg. 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T also produced uncoupling, but at doses of 70 nmoles/mg or higher. All agents were more effective with alpha-ketoglutarate or pyruvate-malate), all three agents also depressed State 3 (ADP-stimulated) respiration. Again, DDA was more effective than 2,4-D or 2,4,5-T. These results suggest that accumulation of these or other anionic xenobiotics may lead to toxicity in those tissues possessing the organic anion transport system.