The excretion and stability to metabolism of bretylium.

Bretylium (o-bromobenzylethyldimethylammonium) is a new type of hypotensive drug. It was estimated in extracts of human urine as the methyl orange complex. From 7 to 45% of a single oral dose was found in human urine within 9 hr. The [(14)C] labelled drug was used to investigate excretion by cats. A minor proportion of a subcutaneous dose was eliminated by cats in the faeces, probably after secretion into the bile. Most of the dose was excreted unchanged in the urine. No products of metabolism were found in either human or cat urine. The drug suffered negligible change when incubated with rat liver tissue in vitro.