Effect of Tungstate Supplemented Diet on the Toluene Metabolism in Rats

To evaluate an effect of oxygen free radical on the toluence metabolism, the rats were fed on a tungstate sup-plemented diet(0.75g of tungstate included in 1kg of standard diet) or a standard diet. To the present xanthine oxidase deficient animal model, toluene(0.15ml/100g of body weight) was injected and then the animals were sacrificed after 24 hrs to determine the toluene metabolizing enzyme activities and toluene metabolite, hippuric acid concentration. The increasing rate of urinary hippuric acid concentration was significantly(p<0.01) higher in tungstate fed animals than in standard diet fed ones. Hepatic cytochrome P_450 contents were significantly higher(p<0.01) in tungstate fed animals than in standard diet fed ones. And tungstate fed animals showed a ten-dency of higher activities of benzylalcohol dehydrogenase while a significantly higher activites of benzaldehyde dehydrogenase (p<0.01) than standard diet fed animals. In conclusion, the more possibly reduced oxygen free radical in toluene-treated rats fed with a tungstate supplemented diet than in those fed with a standard diet would be responsible for the enhancement of toluene metabolism.