MACROAUTORADIOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE DISTRIBUTION AND EXCRETION OF 14C-PENTOBARBITONE IN RATS PRETREATED WITH PHENOBARBITONE

The distribution and excretion of pentobarbitone were studied,using macroautoradiography, in two groups of rats at times rangingfrom 1 min to 70 min after the i.v. injection of 100 µCigiven as 30 mg/kg of ¹⁴C-pentobarbitone. In a control group,the carbon-14 concentration (concentration of pentobarbitonein the brain remained always greater than that in heart blood(unchanged pentobarbitone and metabolites). In a group subjectedto enzyme induction (pretreated with phenobarbitone), however,the carbon-14 concentration in the brain exceeded that in theheart blood initially and then decreased rapidly. In the inducedgroup, the carbon-14 concentration in the urine and small intestine(almost all of which was metabolites) increased with time. Inparticular, 70 min after the injection, the carbon-14 concentrationin the small intestine of the induction group was twice thatof the control group. It was concluded that in the inductiongroup the rapid decrease in carbon-14 concentration in the brainwas mainly a result of an increase in the metabolic breakdownof pentobarbitone in the liver.     

Testosterone and High Density Lipoproteins in Patients With Disseminated Gastric Cancer

The plasma concentration of testosterone and the serum concentrationof high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) in male patientswith disseminated gastric cancer and hepatic cirrhosis and innormal male controls were measured. The mean concentration ofHDL-C in patients with hepatic cirrhosis and in patients withdisseminated gastric cancer was significantly lower than thatin the control subjects. Positive correlation was establishedbetween HDL-C and plasma testosterone in patients with disseminatedgastric cancer. The group with low testosterone levels (<5ng/ml) had significantly lower serum albumin than the groupwith high testosterone (>5 ng/ml) in patients with disseminatedgastric cancer. Significant positive correlations were alsoobserved between survival time and either testosterone or HDL-Clevels. These observations indicate that the decreased levelsof HDL-C in patients with disseminated gastric cancer mightnot be primarily due to the decreased levels of testosteronebut rather to the nutritional status and liver funcion of theindividual.