ABSTRACT
There is no simple way to summarize the toxicology and biological activity of organotin compounds. As a group they produce in mammals a rather diverse number of different types of toxicity and biological activity. Toxicity is the result of administration of a chemical to the animal and is the end result of many interrelated events. The metabolism of organotins in mammals seems to be exclusively by the monooxygenase systems. Studies on the ethyl derivatives indicated that tetraethyltin was rapidly dealkylated to triethyltin in the rat and in vitro by microsomes from rat liver. The wide range of possible compounds in the organotin series made up of differing numbers of organo groups attached to the tin, the size and structure of the organo groups, and the differing anions attached to the tin make predictions about distribution in vivo and rates of absorption very difficult. It is clear that toxicity of the tetra-organotins is due to their rapid conversions to triorgano derivatives.
