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Studies were conducted to determine the absorption and metabolic fate of orally administered 3H-estradiol-17 beta-glucuronide (3H-E2-G) in swine. Xylazine-tranquilized female pigs (5 to 6 wk old) were given .04, .4 or 4 mumol 3H-E2-G via stomach tube, and blood samples were collected from previously implanted jugular cannulas for 12 or 72 h. The entire gastrointestinal tract was removed from gilts euthanatized 12 h post-treatment, and free and conjugated estrogens were isolated from plasma and intestinal chyme by diethyl ether extraction and adsorption to Amberlite XAD-2 resin columns. After preparative thin layer chromatography of the conjugate fractions, the conjugates were cleaved by enzyme hydrolysis, solvolysis or acid hydrolysis. The freed estrogens were identified by thin layer chromatography. Plasma radioactivity peaked between 6 and 8 h after administration of the conjugate. None of the radioactivity in plasma was ether extractable. There was evidence for a decrease in absorption rate of radioactive estrogen in the high dosage group. The pattern of metabolites and urinary excretion or orally administered 3H-E2-G was similar to that reported for 14C-E2, except for the greater proportion of polar metabolites and delayed absorption, probably reflecting the need for the conjugate to be hydrolyzed first. The greater proportion of polar metabolites found in this study may have been due to the longer treatment period rather than the administration of the conjugated form of estradiol.

One minute after instillation of 14C-estradiol-17 beta (14C-E2 17 beta) into selected sections of the gastrointestinal tract of swine, radioactive estradiol metabolites were present in blood collected from the portal and jugular veins. Ether was used to extract free but not conjugated estrogens. The percentage of plasma radioactivity that was ether extractable (EE) was low in portal plasma and even lower in jugular plasma following instillation of 14C-E2 17 beta into the stomach, ileum and colon. EE radioactivity was not detectable in either portal or jugular plasma when estradiol was instilled into the duodenum or jejunum. Therefore, estrogens were conjugated either in the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract or as they crossed the intestinal mucosa. The liver played only a minor role in conjugation of these steroids, since the estrogen metabolites present in portal plasma were very similar to those in jugular plasma, and metabolites in the urine were similar to those in plasma. The principal estrogen conjugate found in both portal and jugular plasma, regardless of the gastrointestinal section into which 14C-E2 17 beta was instilled, was estrone glucuronide. There was no uniform metabolic pattern observed in the metabolites of estradiol that remained in the lumen of each gastrointestinal section; however, many metabolic transformations occurred. We concluded that almost all estrogens absorbed were metabolized during the absorption process. The liver was active only in the metabolism of estrogens that escaped conjugation in the intestinal mucosa.

Studies were conducted to determine the absorption and metabolic fate of 3H-estradiol-17 beta-glucuronide (3H-E2-G) in swine. The conjugate, 3H-E2-G (48.7 x 10(6) DPM, 45.5 Ci/mmol), was injected into ligated 15-cm sections of duodenum, proximal jejunum, distal jejunum, ileum and spiral colon of 10 kg female pigs. Blood from the jugular and portal veins and urine were collected at .5-h intervals for 5 h. Absorption from the colon was rapid and radioactivity peaked in both portal and jugular plasma by .5 h postinjection. In contrast, the highest plasma estrogen concentration from most other sections was reached at 5 h, the last sampling time. The urinary excretion patterns were nearly identical to those seen in plasma, with the radioactivity peaking early (1.5 h) after instillation of 3H-E2-G into the colon, but still rising at the end of the experiment after instillation into the duodenum, distal jejunum and ileum. The proximal jejunum, which produced low plasma estrogen concentrations, also produced low urine concentrations. The slower absorption of 3H-E2-G compared to 14C-estradiol-17 beta is consistent with the view that the limiting factor for the absorption of the conjugate is hydrolysis to a free estrogen. The predominant metabolites in portal venous plasma from all sections of the intestine at the end of the experiments were the monoglucuronides of estrone and estradiol. Because the administered 3H-E2-G was conjugated at C-17, the presence of estrone glucuronide in portal plasma indicates that, at least in the duodenum, ileum and colon, 3H-E2-G undergoes cleavage, followed by the oxidation of estradiol to estrone, which is subsequently reconjugated by the intestinal mucosa.