Hexachlorobenzene porphyria and hexachlorobenzene catabolism in rats

Gas-chromatographic examinations were made on the amounts of hexachlorobenzene accumulating in the liver and fatty tissue of rats chronically poisoned with a diet containing 0.2 % hexachlorobenzene, and on the amounts of hexachlorobenzene and pentachlorophenol excreted with the urine and the faeces in the course of the poisoning. The results indicated a constant rise in the hexachlorobenzene levels in these tissues. Pentachlorophenol formed in the catabolism of hexachlorobenzene appeared in increasing concentration in both the urine and the faeces from the commencement of the poisoning. After the 5th–6th week of poisoning, the presence of other apolar and polar products in the excretions was also markedly enhanced. After a single dose of hexachlorobenzene /0.2 g/animal/, of all the decomposition products only pentachlorophenol was produced in high concentration, showing that this is a primary catabolite. A hypothesis is put forward as to the possibility of a role being played in the mechanism of action of hexachlorobenzene by a membrane permeability change.