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The Distribution of Radioactivity following the Feeding of Carbon 14-labeled 2-Acetylaminofluorene to Rats^{* ,}

Harold P. Morris, Ph.D., John H. Weisburger, Ph.D. and Elizabeth K. Weisburger, Ph.D.

(From the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda 14, Maryland)

The distribution of radioactivity was studied in rats following oral administration of a single dose of 2-acetylaminofluorene-9-C¹⁴ at 2 and 6 hours, and 2-acetylaminofluorene--C¹⁴ at 6 hours.

A considerable quantity of the administered radioactivity of 2-acetylaminofluorene-9-C¹⁴ was absorbed within 2 hours, with detectable quantities present throughout the body of the rat. A wide distribution of radioactivity was also noted at 6 hours, after administration of either compound. However, the path taken by the radioactivity of the 9-labeled compound was different from that of the methyl-labeled derivative. Less of the latter was excreted in the urine, and more was found in the organs and tissues.

Six per cent of the administered radioactivity from 2-acetylaminofluorene--C¹⁴ was eliminated in the breath within 6 hours, while negligible amounts of radioactivity from the 9-C¹⁴-labeled compound were expired during the same period, which supports the view that the acetyl group of 2-acetylaminofluorene is split off by the rat, at least in part, and metabolized independently of the remainder of the molecule.

^* Presented in part at the 117th Meeting, American Chemical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 9–13, 1950, and the Forty-first Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Inc., Atlantic City, N.J., April 16–18, 1950.

The radio carbon used in this investigation was obtained on allocation from the United States Atomic Energy Commission after being synthesized into 2-acetylaminofluorene by F. E. Ray and C. R. Geiser.

Public Health Service Research Fellow of the National Cancer Institute.

Received 6/22/50.