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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 7043

H.C. Agarwal, D.M. Saxena, and Rup Lal; Accumulation and Metabolism of DDT and Its Metabolites by Tetrahymena. Water,Air,and Soil Pollution 18:441-447, 1982

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Tetrahymena pyriformis readily accumulated DDT and its metabolites from the medium initially containing 1 ppm of each compound. These compounds were accumulated in a decreasing order of DDD, DDE, o,p'-DDT, DDMU, and p,p'-DDT. DDT was metabolized to DDE, o,p'-DDT, and DDMU. DDD was metabolized to DDMU whereas o,p'-DDT, DDE and DDMU were not metabolized. When the organisms were transferred to toxicant free medium excretion of p,p'-DDT and its metabolite occurred in two phases: (a) rapid phase of elimination which was completed during the first 3 hr and (b) slow phase of elimination which continued for another 21 hr. The implications of these results are discussed.