Distribution of microcystins in various organs (heart, liver, intestine, gonad, brain, kidney and lung) of Wistar rat via intravenous injection.

The distribution of microcystins (MCs) in various tissues of Wistar rats was studied under laboratory conditions. Rats were injected intravenously (i.v.) with extracted MCs at a dose of 80 microg MC-LR(equivalent)/kg body weight. MCs concentrations in various tissues were detected at 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24h post-injection using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The highest concentration of MCs was found in kidney (0.034-0.295 microg/g dry weight), followed by lung (0.007-0.067 microg/g dry weight), stomach (0.010-0.058 microg/g dry weight) and liver (0.003-0.052 microg/g dry weight). The maximum MCs content in the whole body of rat, 2.9% of the injected dose, was observed at 2h post-injection. MCs concentration was higher in kidney than in liver during the experiment, and two peaks of MCs concentration (at 2 and 24h, respectively) were observed in kidney, indicating that MCs can be excreted directly via kidney of rat. Though heart, intestine, spleen, brain, gonad and stomach contained less than 0.2% of injected MCs during the whole experiment stage, the presence of MCs in these tissues represents potential damage to them.