Pharmacokinetics and organ distribution of methotrexate in the rat.

After intravenous injection of 31 mg/kg methotrexate (MTX), its concentrations were determined in plasma, liver, kidney, bone marrow, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, colon and muscle up to 23 days, using an enzymatic assay. Plasma pharmacokinetics were described by a triexponential function, with a terminal half-life of 4.2 h. Up to 1.5 h after injection, the initial rapid decline of MTX concentrations in bone marrow, kidney, and liver roughly paralleled that in plasma. The terminal half-life of MTX in bone marrow was greatly prolonged (37 h), while MTX remained nearly constant in liver (0.57 microgram/ml) and kidney (0.53 microgram/ml) from 6 h to 23 days. In the intestines, luminal as well as tissue MTX concentrations were determined. The stomach showed a triexponential decay of tissue MTX and low luminal concentrations throughout. In the duodenum, the middle of jejunum, and the colon tissue MTX seemed to follow a bi- or triexponential function. However, high luminal concentrations due to MTX biliary excretion, when reaching a given intestinal portion, increased the MTX tissue concentration in this segment.