The metabolism of t-butylcyclohexane in Fischer-344 male rats with hyaline droplet nephropathy.

The molecule t-butylcyclohexane is one of the first examples of a branched alkyl group attached to a hydrocarbon ring shown to be capable of producing renal damage at the corticomedullary junction of male rats. A metabolic study of t-butylcyclohexane yielded the following urinary metabolites: trans-4-t-butylcyclohexanol, 2c-hydroxy-4t-t-butylcyclohexanol, 2-methyl-2-cyclohexylpropanoic acid, 2c-hydroxy-4c-t-butylcyclohexanol, 2-methyl-2-cyclohexyl-1,3-propanediol, 2t-hydroxy-4t-t-butylcyclohexanol, and cis -4-t-butylcyclohexanol. As with other hydrocarbons of similar molecular weight that induce nephropathy in male rats, preferential sites of oxidative metabolism were observed that could potentially be related to the pathogenesis.