Bioavailability and biological activity of wheat-bound chlorpyrifos-methyl residues in rats

Wheat grain was treated with 14C-chlorpyrifos-methyl to generate bound residues for determining their bioavailability to rats. In a parallel experiment, bound residues were prepared with non-labelled chlorpyrifos-methyl to determine possible adverse effects in rats fed the grain-bound residue for 28 and 90 days. Two dose levels of 10 and 50 ppm were initially used on the grain. The 10 ppm led to the formation of 25.1% bound residues (2.51 ppm) after 6 months as determined by radiomeasurement. The higher dose was assumed to form 12.55 ppm bound residues. When 14C-bound residues were fed to male rats for 24 hours, the animals eliminated 75% of the radioactivity in urine, 7% in expired air and 8% in faeces after 3 days, indicating that the bound residues were highly bioavailable. A further "bioavailable" amount (4%) was found in selected organs.