Abstract
Introduction: Polychlorinated Biphenyls pose hazards to humans as environmental and occupational workplace pollutants, despite which, though they are regulated in India, their use is not yet banned. Hence, the pharmacokinetics and behavioral effects of PCBs after inhalational exposures of Aroclor 1232 in Swiss albino mice were assessed in this study, with an objective to correlate these effects with monoamine levels in brain and extrapolate them to rodent and human risk assessments. Methods: A whole body inhalational chamber has been utilized to expose mice to different doses of Aroclor 1232 for single six-hour durations. The plasma and brain samples were used to estimate the corresponding concentration-time profiles of two representative congeners of PCBs (PCB 77 and PCB 180) and calculate their pharmacokinetic parameters. These variables were then correlated with mouse behavior using Irwin scale, and monoamine levels at Tmax. Results & Discussion: A definite dose-dependence of PCB 77 and PCB 180 kinetic parameters was identified in plasma and brain. PCB 77 exhibited more accumulation in brain than plasma, whereas PCB 180 accumulated more in plasma than brain. Mood, autonomic scores, and miscellaneous sub domains were significantly different from control group scores in these domains. The changes in the mood and miscellaneous domains on the Irwin scale could be ascribed to higher brain PCB 77; whereas changes in autonomic functions could be ascribed to higher plasma PCB 180 levels. Conclusion: The pharmacokinetic parameters of PCB 180 and PCB 77 after acute inhalational exposures to Aroclor 1232 were obtained and this was temporally correlated with disruption of behavioral scores and monoamine levels in dose-dependent manner.