Determination of Cellular and Subcellular Distribution of Tritiated Cortisol Derivatives in Rat Liver by Autoradiography

Abstract

Forty-five min. after intraperitoneal injection of a tracer dose of cortisol-1,2-H3 into male adrenalectomized rats, radioactivity in the liver was shown by autoradiographic techniques to be concentrated mainly in hepatocytes. Very low labeling occurred in the cells of the reticuloendothelial system and cells of the bile duct were practically unlabeled. Controls with liver sections of nonradioactive rats indicated that the radioactivity detectable by autoradiography was caused by the hormone or its metabolites and was not artifactual. There was about 5 to 15 times more labeling in the cytoplasm of the hepatocyte than in the cell nucleus.