[Influence of steroid hormones on drug disposition? Experiments with acetylruthenocene in mice and rats].

After injection of acetyl-[103Ru]-ruthenocene, high 103Ru concentration are found in adrenals of female mice. This was also found with acetyl-[3H]ruthenocene. On autoradiography only the adrenal cortex, not the medulla, was labelled. High 103Ru accumulations did not occur in the adrenals of male mice or rats, but male rats exhibited a very high 103Ru concentration in the kidney, with concentration kidney/muscle ratios up to 780:1. The 103Ru-concentration in the kidney of female rats was only 1/20 that of male rats. After application of testosterone propionate to female mice or estradiol to male rats a drastic change in organ distribution was observed: the 103Ru radioactivity in adrenals and kidneys decreased by a factor of 15. Similar to these results obtained with acetylruthenocen, a sex-specific distribution, but to a lesser extent, was found with dihydroacetylruthenocens.