Rate of Elimination of Dimethylsulfoxide from Tissues of Euthermic and Hypothermic Rats

It was shown that following the intraperitoneal injection of 1.5 g of dimethyl-sulfoxide/kg of body weight in rats, the drug reaches peak concentrations in all organs studied within 1 hr under euthermic conditions. Similar results were seen under hypothermic conditions in all organs except the spleen, which continued to increase in DMSO concentration until the second hour after rejection. The rate of loss from the tissues is relatively rapid during the initial 2 hr after peak concentration is reached, and becomes slower during the later periods. The loss curves under hypothermic conditions all demonstrate significantly lower rates of loss than their respective euthermic counterparts. It has been suggested that the observed early fast loss may represent depletion of a free or unassociated DMSO in the tissues.