ERYTHROCYTE-ANILINE INTERACTION LEADS TO THEIR ACCUMULATION AND IRON DEPOSITION IN RAT SPLEEN

In order to understand the splenic toxicity of aniline in rats, early interaction of aniline with erythrocytes and its subsequent deposition and covalent binding to macromolecules in target (spleen) and nontarg et (liver) organs have been studied. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats wer e given 1 or 3 doses of 7 mmol/kg [C-14]aniline hydrochloride (1 dose/ d) by gavage and euthanized 24 h after the treatment. Among blood comp onents, maximum radioactivity was found to be associated with red bloo d cells (RBCs). After 3 doses, there was 1/2, 79, and 67% increase in the radioactivity in the whole blood, RBCs, and hemolysate, respective ly, in comparison to 1 dose. In comparison to RBCs, plasma had only 40 and 16% radioactivity after the administration of 1 and 3 doses, resp ectively. Spleen homogenate at 1 dose had one-third of the radioactivi ty in the TCA precipitate, which increased to 40% at 3 doses, while th e total radioactivity increased 256% over 1 dose. Liver, which had alm ost double the radioactivity on a per gram tissue basis compared to th e spleen at one dose, did not show any appreciable increase in the rad ioactivity at three doses. However, radioactivity in the TCA precipita te of liver homogenate increased by 92% after 3 doses. The iron conten t of the spleen in rats given 3 doses of [C-14]aniline increased by 85 % compared to the rats given just 7 dose. The iron content of liver di d not show any change at three doses. These data thus demonstrate a do se-dependent binding and accumulation of radioactivity in erythrocytes and spleen. These interactions, along with parallel increases in the iron content or the spleen, could be critical in the splenic toxicity of anilines.