Effect of dam's diet on PCB accumulation in nursing Osborne Mendel pups

Upon parturition, dams were fed high fat or high carbohydrate diets to which 1, 10, and 30 ppm of Aroclor 1254 were added to study the effect of diet on fat and PCB accumulation in nursing pups. The percentage of body fat in the carcasses of 0, 8, and 16 day old pups ranged from 2.2 to 18.2% and from 1.2 to 12.0% for animals suckled by dams fed high fat and high carbohydrate rations, respectively. Accumulation of Aroclor 1254 expressed as ppm wet weight or as total PCB's per pup was similar for animals nursed by dams fed either the high fat or high carbohydrate ration, but pups from dams fed a high carbohydrate ration also had significantly less body fat. Therefore, transfer of PCBs via the milk appears to be more a function of the amounts of PCB's consumed by the dam than the diet's ability to increase the percentage of body fat in the pups.