The effect of temperature on the rate of conversion of p,p-DDT to p,p-DDE in brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Abstract

Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) were maintained in flowing fresh water at 2, 10, and 18 degrees C and injected intramuscularly with p,p-[-14C]DDT. Fish were killed at intervals up to 16 weeks after injection, and analyzed by a combination of thin-layer chromatography, gas-liquid chromatography, and liquid-scintillation counting. Only one labelled metabolite, p,p-DDE, was detected during the experimental period. Its rate of production varied with temperature; after 16 weeks, about 9, 13, and 19 percent of the original p,p-DDT in fish maintained at 2, 10, and 18 degrees C, respectively, had been converted.