Table 1. Treatment groups and doses. Loading dose was administered on study days 0–5 and maintenance dose on study days 10, 17 and 24.
| Treatment group | Total dose (mg/kg bw) | Loading dose (mg/kg bw) | Maintenance dose | Number of animals | ||
| Weekly dose (mg/kg bw) | Apparent daily dose (µg/kg/day) | Males | Females | |||
| 1. Control | 0 | 6×0 | 3×0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 2. PCB180 | 3 | 6×0.44 | 3×0.136 | 19.4 | 5 | 5 |
| 3. PCB180 | 10 | 6×1.44 | 3×0.45 | 64.3 | 5 | 5 |
| 4. PCB180 | 30 | 6×4.32 | 3×1.36 | 194 | 5 | 5 |
| 5. PCB180 | 100 | 6×14.4 | 3×4.5 | 643 | 5 | 5 |
| 6. PCB180 | 300 | 6×43.2 | 3×14 | 2000 | 5 | 5 |
| 7. PCB180 | 1000 | 6×144 | 3×45 | 6430 | 5 | 5 |
| 8. PCB180 | 17001 | 51×288 | 3×91 | 13000 | 5 | 5 |
1
The target total dose of group 8 was 2000 mg/kg bw, but due to unexpected decrease in body weight (Fig. 1.) the third loading dose was omitted for animal welfare reasons, and the rats received only the corn oil vehicle.