FEW EXOGENOUS substances are known to be excreted by the pancreas, in contrast to excretion by the kidney and liver. Only zinc1,2 and manganese3 had been shown to be actively secreted by the pancreas until Dainko and associates4,5 reported in 1963 the apparent active secretion of erythromycin, kanamycin sulfate, and colistimethate sodium by the dog's pancreas. If these findings are consistently reproducible, new fields of clinical investigation of pancreatic function may well be realized. In an attempt to confirm this unique observation we undertook a study in dogs by means of simultaneous collections of pancreatic juice, bile, urine, and serum after intravenous administration of erythromycin, kanamycin, lincomycin hydrochloride monohydrate, and colistimethate.
Erythromycin excretion has been studied extensively in animals,6-10 including man.11-18 Urinary excretion has varied from 12.0% to 16.6% of the given parenteral dose and
bile excretion from 4.3% to 33.6%. The 4.3% figure was derived