Progesterone retention by rat uterus I. Pharmacokinetics after uterine intraluminal instillation

Tritium-labeled progesterone was administered to mature female rats in the proestrous stage by three different routes, gastric intubation, subcutaneous injection, and uterine intraluminal instillation, to study the kinetics involved in the uptake and retention of radioactivity by the uterus and various other tissues. Progesterone was retained at a much higher level and for a more prolonged period in the rat uterus after uterine intraluminal instillation. Progesterone bioavailability to the uterus was 45 times higher by uterine intraluminal instillation than by either gastric intubation or subcutaneous injection. Progesterone absorption by the rat endometrium was extremely fast. The observed biphasic decrease of radioactivity from the uterine tissue was explained adequately by a pharmacokinetic model in which progesterone is assumed to be present in two compartments within the uterine tissue. The pharmacokinetic parameters showed that the progesterone biological half-life in the uterine tissue during the alpha-phase was about 6.5 min while that in the beta-phase was about 230 min.