The Distribution of 14C-Labelled Lidocaine Injected Intravenously in the Rat

Abstract

Plasma levels decreased rapidly, with only 6.8% of the injected dose remaining by one min. The vessel-rich (highly perfused) organs and plasma showed similar decay curves. An increasing amount of radioactivity in the liver indicated that an active process, probably metabolism, was occurring there. Muscle, although it contained as much as 23.6% of the injected drug at one time, had a low affinity for the drug and was important in redistribution only because of its large mass.