Metabolism of polycyclic compounds. 20. The metabolism of phenanthrene in rabbits and rats: mercapturic acids and related compounds.

Investigations on rats dosed with phenanthrene (Elson, Goulden & Warren, 1945; Crabtree, 1946) showed that there was an increase in the neutralsulphur output in tihe urines, and Gutmann & Wood (1950) found an increase in the radioactivity in the urines when animals were fed with phenanthrene and L-[35S]cysteine. Stekol (1935, 1939) had noticed that the growth of dogs and rats was retarded when the animals, maintained on a casein-free diet, were given phenanthrene. The growth was resumed when cysteine or methionine, but not taurine, was given. In the present work, a number of mercapturic acids and related compounds have been isolated or detected in the urines of both rabbits and rats dosed with phenanthrene.