The effect of protein-energy malnutrition on the absorption, distribution and elimination of chloroquine in the rat.

1. Protein-energy malnutrition was induced in young rats by feeding them a protein-deficient diet. 2. The kinetics of uptake and elimination of chloroquine in various tissues were compared in normal rats, malnourished rats, and malnourished rats after recovery from malnutrition. 3. In the blood, liver, spleen, heart, kidney and skeletal muscle, uptake of chloroquine was slower in malnourished than in normal rats. Chloroquine was also eliminated at a slower rate in malnourished rats. In the skin chloroquine was taken up to a greater extent in malnourished than in normal rats. 4. When malnourished rats were allowed to recover from their state of malnutrition, the uptake and elimination of chloroquine no longer differed from those of animals that had never been malnourished.