THE DISTRIBUTION OF GOLD FOLLOWING THE INJECTION OF OBESITY-INDUCING DOSES OF AUROTHIOGLUCOSE IN THE MOUSE

¹ Department of Pharmacology, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York

The concentration of gold in the liver, kidneys, muscle, brain, and plasma was estimated within 180 minutes after the injection of obesity-producing doses of aurothioglucose (ATG) into mice. The peak plasma concentration occurred between 30 and 60 minutes after injection. The largest tissue concentrations were found in the kidneys and liver, and extremely small quantities were detected in brain.

The only organ in which small quantities of gold were detected one, two and three months after injection of ATG was the liver.

Fasted mice, which have been shown to be more resistant to the toxic action of ATG than fed mice, show almost twice the liver and kidney gold concentrations seen in similarly injected fed controls.