Abstract
Exposure to pesticide residues is claimed to be one of the possible causes of frog decline. Knowledge of basic information on the uptake, metabolism and depuration processes of pesticides in the frog is needed to understand the relationship between exposure and toxic effects from their actual body burden, together with their bioconcentration. The hydrophobicity of pesticides and industrial chemicals was one of the most important factors controlling bioconcentration, similarly to fish, when frogs are exposed to contaminated water. Skin absorption was also a key route in the uptake process especially in the adult frog. The metabolic profiles in the frog, mainly examined by an intraperitoneal injection technique, were common to other aquatic species without any frog-specific transformation reaction. The effects of developmental stage, sex, species and environmental factors such as temperature were observed for bioconcentration and metabolism.
