Studies of the metabolic fate of 14 C-labeled gossypol in Heliothis virescens (F.) found radioactivity mainly in the fat body of fifth-stadium larvae, the dissolved tissues of 4-day-old pupae, the abdomen of newly emerged moths, and the larval frass. 14 C-labeled gossypol was eliminated as a respiration product from third to fifth instars, and from prepupa to adult. Gossypol was excreted in the larval frass as a free compound and as a conjugate. Analysis of labeled frass extracts by high-performance liquid chromatography indicated that the ethyl acetate and methyl alcohol extracts contained the highest concentrations of free and conjugated gossypol, respectively, Two metabolites from frass of H. virescens larvae were isolated and identified as derivatives of gossypol containing six glucose moieties attached to the gossypol nucleus.
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Rojas et al. (1992) studied this question.