The metabolic fate in rats of the pyrethroid insecticide WL85871, a mixture of two isomers of cypermethrin

The metabolism of the pyrethroid insecticide WL85871, labelled in the alcohol moiety, has been studied in male and female Wistar rats at a dose of ca 2 mg kg^?1. The compound was rapidly broken down and the radioactivity was mainly eliminated in the urine as the sulphate conjugate of 3-(4-hydroxyphenoxy)benzoic acid (40% of the dose). Some hydroxylation occurred before ester cleavage. Approximately 20% of the ingested compound was not absorbed and was eliminated unchanged in the faeces. There was no evidence for any racemisation of the chiral centres of WL85871 either in the intestine, the faeces or in fat. The small proportion of the dose stored in adipose tissue was eliminated with biphasic kinetics (t½ values, 2–3 days and 17–26 days). The t½ values for skin were, respectively, 2 days and 40 days. As the residue in fat depleted between 3 and 40 days, an increasing proportion (from 28% to 48%) was present as a lipophilic metabolite of WL85871, or of 3-phenoxybenzoic acid, probably a mixture of 3-phenoxybenzoyl diacyl glycerols.