Tissue and subcellular localizations of 3H-cyclosporine A in mice

The tissue and subcellular localizations of 3H-cyclosporine A after administration to mice were determined with whole-body autoradiography and scintillation counting of lipid extracts of tissues and subcellular fractions. The radioactivity was widely distributed in the body and the pattern of distribution after oral or parenteral administration was the same, except that tissue levels were generally lower after oral administration. Pretreatment of the animals with a diet containing cyclosporine A for 30 days before the injection of radioactive cyclosporine A did not change the pattern of distribution substantially. No significant radioactivity was found in the central nervous system, except for the choroidal plexus and the area postrema region of the brain. In pregnant mice no passage of radioactivity from the placentas to fetuses was observed after a single injection. 3H-cyclosporine A and/or its metabolites showed a high affinity for the lympho-myeloid tissues, with a marked long-term retention in bone marrow and lymph nodes. There was massive excretion in the intestinal tract after parenteral administration, and the liver, bile, pancreas and salivary glands contained high levels of radioactivity. In the kidney radioactivity was confined to the outer zone of the outer kidney medulla. In liver homogenates no quantitatively significant binding of 3H-cyclosporine A and/or its metabolites to cellular molecules such as proteins, DNA, phospho- or neutral lipids was found. After lipid extraction with organic solvents, almost all radioactivity was recovered in the organic phase.