Toxicokinetics of a single 50 mg/kg oral dose of [2,3-14C]acrylamide in White Leghorn hens.

A single oral dose of [2,3-14C]acrylamide (50 mg/kg) was administered in water to adult white leghorn hens. Seven groups of three hens were euthanized between 2 and 120 hr after administration. Within 12 hr, the hens excreted 70% of the administered dose, and more than 99% within 48 hr. Blood, plasma, liver, and muscle contained the greatest percentage of administered dose at 4 hr after dosing. Less than 0.02% of the administered dose appeared in brain at any time. Radiolabel accumulated in the eggs, with 0.52% of the administered dose accumulated within 5 days. Binding of radiolabel to erythrocytes was minimal. Elimination of radiolabel from all tissues was biphasic. Terminal elimination half-lives for 14C were longer than 10 days, at which time less than 0.2% of the administered dose remains in the tissues. Distribution half-lives for 14C were longest for whole blood and shortest for kidney. Radioactivity in the blood and plasma reached a peak at between 4 and 12 hr. Most of this radioactivity was identified as acrylamide, which disappeared biexponentially with terminal elimination half-lives longer than 10 days. Distribution half-lives for acrylamide were longest in brain and shortest in whole blood. These results show that orally administered acrylamide is poorly absorbed and rapidly eliminated from hens and accumulates in their eggs in a nonextractable form.