The paper presents the liver distribution and fecal excretion of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) congeners in male rats fed with Chlorella, Spirulina and chlorophyllin. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of PCDD excretion by the chlorophyllin foods. The rats were given some treatment diets containing 20% Chlorella, 20% Spirulina, 0.2% 2% chlorophyllin, 10% rice-bran fiber or 2% chlorophyllin + 10% rice-bran fiber for 5 days. Then the animals were administered 4 g of each diet containing 0.5 ml of the causal rice-bran oil of Yusho that had occurred in the Southwest part of japan in 1968 and kept on the same diet for another 5 days. The rice bran oil contaminated with PCDDs was used for the animal experiments. PCDD congeners in the feces and liver were analyzed by high resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The fecal excretion of PCDDs in the groups fed with Chlorella, Spirulina and 2% chlorophyllin were 7.4, 7.1 and 11.0 times higher respectively, than that in the control group. These findings suggest that the administration of Chlorella, Spirulina and chlorophyllin is useful as a new approach in the treatments of patients exposed to lipophilic zenobiotics.
Key Words - Yusho; Chlorella; Spirulina; chlorophyllin; dietary fiber; dioxin.