A GENERIC TOXICOKINETIC MODEL FOR PERSISTENT LIPOPHILIC COMPOUNDS IN HUMANS - AN APPLICATION TO TCDD

This paper discusses a toxicokinetic model describing the distribution of TCDD in the human body during a lifetime. The model divides the bo dy into several physiological compartments, their weights being functi ons of age. Ingested TCDD is instantaneously distributed over all comp artments according to their lipid content. The liver eliminates TCDD f rom the body by a first-order process. Intake depends on age, as estim ated from food consumption survey data combined with data on TCDD conc entrations in various foods. It is shown that historical changes in in take, due to changes in environmental concentrations and in dietary ha bits, should be taken into account as well. Elimination rate and bioav ailability, the only unknown parameters in the model, were estimated b y calibrating the model to human data on internal concentrations. The generic formulation of the model makes it suitable for slowly eliminat ed lipophilic compounds in general. (C) 1996 Society of Toxicology