Tissue Distribution of [~3H]-Nicotine in Rats

This study was conducted in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats to determine thedistribution of [3~H]-nicotine in blood and tissues following a bolus injection and a constantinfusion of pure nicotine.The animals were anesthetized and injected with either 0.5 ml ofnicotine solution or given a constant infusion of the same nicotine solution with identicalamounts of radioactive nicotine.After sacrifice,blood,brain,trachea.salivery gland,esophagus,lung,heart,liver,fundus,antrum,spleen,pancreas,duodenum,jejunum,ileum,cecum,colon,kidneys,adrenal gland,and testes were collected and measured for radioactivityby scintillation counting.The distribution of nicotine was found highest in kidneys by bothroutes of administration.Higher accumulations were also found in salivary and adrenalglands,fundus,antrum,duodenum,jejunum,ileum and colon.Retention of nicotine viaconstant infusion was significantly higher in esophagus,fundus antrum,spleen,cecum,pancreas,testes,heart and muscle when compared with bolus injection.Six-fold