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Residual Bromide in Tissues of Rats Fed Methyl Bromide Fumigated Diets¹

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg 24061

Abstract

A preliminary study was undertaken to determine a rapid method of analysis for bromide residues occurring in tissues of animals fed methyl bromide treated diets. Neutron activation analysis was chosen because it was faster, more precise and had a lower standard deviation between samples than other methods considered. A computer program was devised to measure the data collected as parts per million.

Sixty-eight rats were divided into two experimental groups of 48 and 20 rats, respectively. Experiment I was divided into 12 groups of four rats each. Each group contained one rat on either a non-fumigated control diet or one of each of the three treatment diets. The three treatment diets were diets fumigated with methyl bromide and contained 290, 601 and 1,177 ppm residual bromide, respectively. These rats were fed the diets for 56 days and then sacrificed. There were no significant differences in the growth rate or organ weights among treatments; however, a difference (P<.01) in the bromide levels found in the tissues between treatments was noted. The eye was found to contain the highest level of residual bromides (856 ppm).

Experiment II was designed to study the 20 remaining animals' response to treatment C (1177 ppm Br), and to determine the bromide build-up in the tissues every 2 weeks. The 20 rats were divided into four groups of five rats each. One group was sacrified after 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks. There was no significant difference between groups in experiment 2 concerning growth rate, general health and condition. When the spleen weights were statistically analyzed, a significant weight loss was detected between the six (0.69 g) and 8 weeks (0.49 g) on the treatment diet. Tissue analysis for bromides revealed a statistically significant difference between levels found in the kidneys of rats on the diet for 4 weeks when compared to the other three groups. The gastrocnemius muscle was also significantly higher in bromides in the 4-week group than the 8-week group.

¹ Supported in part by Biomedical Sciences Support Grant funds