Visualization of bactericidal concentrations of nitrofurantoin macrocrystals in primate and human urinary tract tissue.

The distribution of orally administered nitrofurantoin macrocrystals in the urinary tract was studied by whole body radioautography in female squirrel monkeys and by bioautography of excised human kidney. The drug was rapidly absorbed and widely distributed throughout the simian urinary tract and human kidney. Concentrations of 14C drug in simian renal cortex and renal pelvis were up to 5 times plasma levels. Nitrofurantoin-derived antibacterial activity was observed by bioautography throughout sections of human kidney at concentrations that killed susceptible human urinary tract pathogens.