RENAL EXCRETION AND VOLUME DISTRIBUTION OF SOME POLYETHYLENE GLYCOLS IN THE DOG

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Abstract
The polyethylene glycols (PEG) are a series of unctuous, water-soluble compounds varying in consistency from viscous liquids to pasty or solid materials. Structurally, they are characterized by a large number of ether linkages together with terminal hydroxyl groups, and they possess a low order of chemical reactivity. The renal clearance rate of several PEG ranging in avg. molecular wt. from 400 to 6000 were investigated in the dog using creatinine as the reference substance. Detns. of PEG were made by a gravimetric method (Shaffer and Critchfield, Analyt. Chem. 19: 32,1947). Expts. were performed on [female] dogs lightly-anesthetized with pento-barbital. The PEG was administered in saline soln. in concns. up to 5% by constant intraven. infusion at a rate of about 2.4 ml./min. A total of 59 periods were obtained in 16 expts. on PEG. of avg. molecular wts. of 400, 1000, 1540, and 4000. Taking these 59 periods as a group, the avg. ratio of the PEG clearance to the simultaneous creatinine clearance was 0.99 with a standard deviation of 0.06. The ratio of the clearance of a PEG of avg. molecular wt. 6000 to that of creatinine was consistently and significantly less than 1. This circumstance was essentially unaffected by extreme hy-perglycemia and by the intraven. infusion of diodrast in an amt. sufficient to saturate tubular excretory activity. Injected intraven., the PEG are distributed in a fluid vol. approximating that of the extracellular fluid of the body.

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