An attempt was made to discern the combined effect of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and alkylbenzene sulfonic acid salt (ABS).
Male rats of the Wistar strain were fed eight different diets: group 1, ordinary diet and tap water, group 2, diet supplemented with 10ppm of PCB and tap water, group 3, diet supplemented with 100ppm of PCB and tap water, group 4, diet supplemented with 500ppm of PCB and tap water, group 5, ordinary diet and water containing 1, 000ppm of the ABS, group 6, diet supplemented with 10ppm of the PCB and water containing 1, 000ppm of ABS, group 7, diet supplemented with 100ppm of PCB and water containing 1, 000ppm of ABS; group 8, diet supplemented with 500ppm of PCB and water containing 1, 000ppm of ABS.
The rats were sacrificed after one month and analysis revealed that the weight of the liver was increased, the liver and serum cholesterol content was increased, the liver aniline hydroxylase activity was increased and the liver Na-K-Mg-dependent ATPase was decreased in the PCB fed group. These changes varied with the dose of PCB.
When ABS was administered simultaneously with PCB, most of the above-mentioned abnormalities were more severe.