Urinary excretion of dimethylnitrosamine: a quantitative relationship between dose and urinary excretion.

The urinary excretion of dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) was studied in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Animals were given DMN (3, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 50 mg/kg body weight, i.p.) or [3H]DMN (0.1, 1 and 3 mg; 8.7, 1.5 and 0.28 mCi/kg body weight, respectively, i.p.) diluted with sterile 0.9% NaCl. Urine was collected for 24 h after dosing. DMN was quantitated by gas chromatography using a Thermal Energy Analyzer as detector and [3H]DMN by liquid scintillation counting after purification by high pressure liquid chromatography. Multiple regression analysis programs were used to evaluate the fit of the data to a variety of models relating excretion to dose. All models which gave an acceptable fit including a term for dose squared. The models are discussed in terms of the relationship between urinary excretion and blood clearance of DMN.