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Title: Pulmonary fate of (/sup 3/H)bleomycin A2 in mice

Journal Article · · J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6728593

The pulmonary fate of radiolabeled bleomycin (S-methyl-/sup 3/H)bleomycin A2 ((/sup 3/H)BLM A2) was studied in mice after intratracheal (i.t.) or s.c. injection. The loss of radioactivity from the lungs followed apparent first-order kinetics during the first 3 hr after i.t. drug instillation with a half-time of removal of 32 min. In addition, the initial pulmonary removal was linear with instilled doses ranging from 0.02 to 2.2 mg/kg. Radioactivity was detected in liver, kidneys, spleen and serum 1 hr after i.t. administration. Approximately 1% of the i.t. administered dose was detected in the lungs after 24 hr, indicating that the rate of removal of radioactivity slowed between 3 and 24 hr after i.t. drug instillation. Eighty percent of the radioactivity found in the lungs 1 hr after i.t. instillation was unmetabolized (/sup 3/H)BLM A2, but by 24 hr less than 25% was unmetabolized drug and almost 40% was the nonfibrogenic metabolite, desamidobleomycin A2. After s.c. administration of 10 mg/kg of (/sup 3/H)BLM A2, peak pulmonary levels were observed between 45 and 60 min and were less than 1% of the injected dose. Pulmonary levels comparable to those seen with a single fibrogenic i.t. dose (2.2 mg/kg) could not be obtained after a s.c. injection even with a toxic dose of the drug (100 mg/kg). In addition, twice weekly s.c. injections of unlabeled BLM A2 (10 mg/kg) for 5 weeks did not alter the amount of radioactivity seen in the lungs after a s.c. injection of (/sup 3/H)BLM A2. Thus, the pulmonary fibrosis seen with i.t. BLM administration may reflect the high initial content of unmetabolized drug achieved in the lungs.

Research Organization:
Yale Univ., School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
OSTI ID:
6728593
Journal Information:
J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther.; (United States), Vol. 228:1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English