Reductive Dechlorination of DDT by Heated Liver

DDT undergoes reductive dechlorination in vertebrate liver after death and in liver preparations incubated in anaerobic conditions. The product, DDD, p, p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloro-ethane, is an important environmental pollutant and has been found in tissues of many animals¹, including human liver². Although there is evidence that reductive dechlorination by vertebrate liver is NADPH-dependent and takes place when microsomes and DDT are incubated in nitrogen³, other investigators⁴ have suggested that the reaction could be non-enzymatic.