Tissue distribution of tritium-labeled dehydroretronecine

Summary When [ 3 H]dehydroretronecine was administered to rats at a dose of 65 mg/kg, over 3/4 of the dose was eliminated in the urine within 24 h. Specific activity of the stomach mucosa was approximately ten times that of the kidney and liver throughout the 2-week period of examination. Radioactivity in the liver was greatest in the microsomal fraction. The development of gastric hemorrhage and ulceration and inhibited protein synthesis in the liver that had previously been reported is undoubtedly related to the localization of the pyrrole metabolite in the affected organ and subcellular liver fraction.