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The urinary and faecal excretion, tissue distribution and metabolism of 3H-chloramphenicol (CP) were measured in rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri R., after a single 50 mg/kg intragastric dose. The major route of excretion of 3H was faecal (64.3% of the dose), with approx. 16% in the urine in five days. Radioactivity was widely distributed in trout tissues and organs, the highest concen. being in the bile and intestine. At 48 h after dosing, the radioactivity remaining in the liver, the muscle and the perigastric adipose tissue was as CP-derived compounds bound to tissues. In addition to unchanged CP (4.3% dose after 96 h), the other metabolites excreted in the urine were CP base (5.2%), CP alcohol (4.0%) and CP glucuronide (1.8%).

The metabolic utilization by fish of n-alkanes was investigated in Salmo gairdneri R. receiving per os a single dose of [14C]heptadecane. This alkane was largely absorbed and radioactivity in the intestinal content was entirely in heptadecane. No elimination of the hydrocarbon was observed in urine. One week after dosing, ca. 50% of the ingested radioactivity was stored in the carcass and two-thirds of this radioactivity was due to heptadecane. The highest concentration of 14C was found in adipose tissue and liver, in which 77 and 22%, respectively, of the radioactivity originated from hydrocarbon. The rest was omega-oxidized to heptadecanoic acid. This fatty acid was incorporated into neutral lipids (mainly as free fatty acid) and phospholipids.

Rainbow trout were fed a diet containing 1% dodecylcyclohexane or pristane for 9 weeks. Feed intake was recorded daily and weight gain every 3 weeks. These animals were compared with fish receiving a hydrocarbon-free diet (groups fed ad libitum and pair-fed groups for which the ration provided was the amount of food consumed by the hydrocarbon-contaminated fish, the day before). The total food ingested by the pristane and dodecylcyclohexane groups amounted to 66 and 70%, respectively, of that eaten by the controls. The final mean weight of the controls was twofold their initial weight. The average weight gain of the dodecylcyclohexane and pristane groups was 37 and 25%. During the same period the fish of the pair-fed groups gained approximately 70% of their initial weight. Significant effects of hydrocarbon consumption on food conversion factors, viscerosomatic index, hepatosomatic index, and liver lipid concentration were observed. The results are discussed in relation to the possible causes of such changes.

The excretion routes and tissue distribution of [3H]pristane were measured in rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri, after a single intragastric dose (0.1 mg). This branched-alkane was quickly and largely absorbed. The balance study showed that the major routes of excretion were fecal (40.4% of the dose) and branchial (39.6%). In feces radioactivity was exclusively due to [3H]pristane, whereas 3H resulting from gill excretion was principally associated with tritiated water. Only 2.6% of the radioactivity was cleared via the kidneys and found in the urine as metabolites. After 48 hr, no hydrocarbon accumulation was observed in gall bladder, while in liver and fat, respectively, 69 and 34% of the radioactivity originated from pristane, the rest of the labeling being mostly associated with lipid components.

1. The urinary metabolites of 3H-dodecylcyclohexane were investigated in rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri R. after a single intragastric dose. In 72 h, 14% of the ingested radioactivity was excreted in urine. 2. Cyclohexylacetic acid, 1-hydroxy-, 3-hydroxy- and 4-hydroxy-cyclohexylacetic acids were present in the unconjugated fraction. 3. In the glucuronide fraction (1.2% dose) labelled aglycones were cyclohexylacetic acid and phenylacetic acid. 4. More than 30% of the urinary 3H was present as phenylacetic and cyclohexylacetic acids conjugated with taurine.

Uptake, distribution, and storage of n-alkanes was studied in rainbow trout receiving a diet containing 1% normal paraffins in the C13-C22 range. After 3 months, the concentration of hydrocarbons deposited in the whole body reached a steady equilibrium value in the range 700-900 ppm. The most pronounced deposition occurred in the adipose tissue. The n-alkane pattern in the whole body exhibited a profile different from that of the alkane mixture ingested. The alkanes around C20 were not retained to any great extent, but as the chain length decreased, the relative amount stored increased. In the liver a marked predominance of even-carbon chain length was observed while in whole fish and in other organs such a phenomenon did not occur. After 5 months, total lipids in the carcass were significantly lower in the test group than in the control group. At the end of the accumulation period, a significant enhancement in the proportion of odd- and even-chain saturated fatty acids from C14:0 to C18:0 was noted in carcasses of hydrocarbon-fed fish. Myristic, pentadecanoic, and heptadecanoic acids were also significantly more abundant in the liver and adipose tissue of contaminated fish. This increase is attributed to the terminal oxidation of the predominant n-alkanes in the diet into the corresponding fatty acids. During the depuration period, one-half of the trout in each group were fed a hydrocarbon-free diet, while the others were starved. After 2 months, both starved and fed trout had lost approximately 50% of the amount of total n-alkanes stored. The n-alkanes longer than C16 were well retained, while short-chain alkane concentration decreased rapidly.