Reduction in the body content of DDE in the Mongolian gerbil treated with sucrose polyester and caloric restriction

It has previously been shown that oral administration to rats of sucrose polyester (SPE4), a nonabsorbable lipophilic binding agent, greatly stimulates the fecal excretion of coorally administered DDT5 (R.J. Jandacek, 1982, Drug Metab. Rev., 13, 695-714). To determine whether this agent would stimulate the excretion of persistent metabolites of DDT stored in body tissues, we treated a group of gerbils with [14C]-DDT and monitored the fecal excretion of radioactivity for several months until a terminal, log-linear phase of excretion was observed. At this point, when greater than 75% of the fecal radioactivity was identified as [14C]DDE, we fed the animals diets containing up to 10% sucrose polyester and found that the rate of excretion of radioactivity in the stool promptly increased two to three times as compared to the rate in the preceding control period. Some rats were subjected to a 25-50% restriction in total food allotment, but this produced no significant change in fecal excretion of total radioactivity. However, when food restriction was combined with administration of sucrose polyester, there was a dramatic, eightfold average increase in excretion of fecal radioactivity. This synergistic effect was reversed (within 24 hr) when the animals were transferred to a normal diet. Measurement of total body radioactivity confirmed that food restriction plus sucrose polyester treatment reduced the body content of the pesticide. We conclude that stimulation of intestinal excretion may offer a new approach to treatment of patients exposed to lipophilic environmental contaminants.