Plasma kinetics and urinary excretion of exogenous human and salmon calcitonin in man.

The metabolism and the urinary excretion of synthetic human and salmon calcitonin-(1--32) [hCT-(1--32), sCT-(1--32)] administered by constant infusions for 240 min were investigated in eight normal subjects. On gel filtration of plasma obtained during the infusions mainly intact hCT-(1--32) and sCT-(1--32) were recognized with homologous radioimmunoassay systems. During constant infusions to equilibrium of 0.04 mg hCT-(1--32) and sCT-(1--32), the metabolic clearance rates (MCR) amounted to 8.4 +/- 1.1 and 3.1 +/- 0.1 ml/kg per min, respectively (P less than 0.01). When hCT-(1--32) was infused at rates of 1 and 4 mg/240 min, the MCR were lower than with 0.04 mg hCT-(1--32), but still higher than with 0.04 mg sCT-(1--32). The half-lives of disappearance of hCT-(1--32) were faster compared to sCT-(1--32), but the difference was not statistically significant. The urinary clearance of hCT-(1--32) determined during the 1 and 4 mg/240 min infusions of hCT-(1--32), as well as of sCT-(1--32) determined during the 0.04-mg infusions of sCT-(1--32) was about 0.1% of the MCR. The half-lives of disappearance of hCT- and sCT-(1--32) incubated in vitro in plasma and urine ranged from 17 to more than 72 h, and the degradation did not affect our calculations of the metabolic breakdown of exogenous CT in vivo.