Conclusions
The liver of Atlantic salmon and American eel hydrolyse POE esters at a rate dependent on POE chain length. Increasing POE chain length decreases V, possibly determined by the rate of breakdown of the enzyme/substrate complex. Substituting oleic for lauric acid in POE(9) ester results in decreased V and Km.
Compared with the activity of acetone-dried beef liver (unpublished observations) hydrolytic rates are approximately 8 to 32 times less with eel and salmon liver and POE(14) monolaurate as substrate.
If hydrolysis of POE esters does lead to partial detoxication in fish, it follows from this work that eels should be less susceptible to poisoning by POE esters than salmon and that the hydrolytic detoxication becomes progressively faster as the homologous series is descended. Both predictions are subject to other factors involved in poisoning such as uptake and excretion dynamics.
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Wildish, D.J., Beatty, D. In vitro hydrolysis of polyoxyethylene esters by tissues of the American eel and Atlantic salmon. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 9, 212–217 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01684827
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01684827