Effect of thiram and dithiocarbamate pesticides on the gastrointestinal absorption and distribution of nickel in mice.

Oral administration of dimethyldithiocarbamate pesticides (ferbam, ziram or sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate) or thiram together with nickel resulted in increased levels of the metal in several tissues of rats, in comparison with animals given only nickel. In contrast, the administration of nickel together with ethylene- or propylenebisdithiocarbamates (zineb, maneb, nabam or propineb) resulted in unchanged tissue levels or, most marked for nabam, reduced the tissue concentrations of the metal. Among the compounds which were able to increase tissue levels of nickel, thiram was the most effective one, followed in decreasing order by ferbam, ziram and sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate. The central nervous system was among the tissues which showed the highest relative increase. For thiram, an accumulation of nickel was observed in the pancreatic islets. The results are discussed in relation to the formation of chelates between nickel and the studied compounds or their metabolites.