Distribution of C14-labelled arteether in kidneys and livers of experimental mice after intramuscular injection.

ABSTRACT

To study the distribution and localization of oil-soluble arteether in experimental mice, we injected C14-labelled arteether (20 microCi/kg body weight) intramuscularly and measured radioactivity in the blood, kidney, and liver. The labelled arteether distributed and localized more to the kidney (819,180.4 +/- 34,134 dpm/cm3) than the liver (288,628.9 +/- 54,954 dpm/cm3) 4 hours post-injection. The main localization of labelled arteether was in the kidney cortex rather than the medulla (p < 0.05). However, the distribution of radioactivity was homogeneous in the liver. The terminal half-life of labelled arteether in the blood was 1.8 hours. The bloodkidneyliver ratio was 152. These findings show that labelled arteether was distributed quickly and localized in the cytoplasmic cortex of the kidney and homogeneously in the liver.