Abstract

There has been some evidence concerning the fact that trihalomethanes(THMs), toxic chlorinated compounds, may be present in drinking water. One of the important methodologies to evaluate the toxicity of THMs is to determine enzyme alteration in experimental animal tissues after treatment. This study was intended to investigate how lactic dehydrogenase(LDH) of rat tissues is affected by administration of chloroform(CHCl3) and dichloromonobromomethane (CHCl2Br). THMs, high dose(1/10 LD50) or low dose(1/50 LD50) of CHCl3 or CHCl2Br were administered orally to experimental rates for 4 or 8 weeks. The treated groups of rats were sacrificed to determine LDH specific activity and isozyme pattern in various organs which were liver, thigh muscle, kidney and brain. The conclusions were obtained as follow: 1. Alteration of LDH activities and isozyme patterns were revealed before morphologic changes in tissues. 2. The LDH specific activities were increased significantly in liver and brain after administration of high concentrations of CHCl3 and CHCls2Br for 4 weeks respectively. Otherwise, they were decreased significantly in liver, muscle and kidney after administration for 8 weeks. 3. The isozyme activities of LDH-4 and LDH-5 were increased in muscle, brain, and especially the liver. 4. It was more distinct for the decrement of LDH H-type isozyme than the increment of M-type isozyme in muscle.