One month after termination of a 3-mo exposure of rats to cadmium (Cd in drinking water at a concentration of 50 mg/l), the effects of dithiocarbamate analogs on the excretion and distribution of the cadmium were determined. Sodium salts of three dithiocarbamates [sodium bis(hydroxyethyl) dithiocarbamate, DEDTC; sodium N-methyl-D-glucamine dithiocarbamate, MGDTC; and sodium 4-carboxamidopiperidine dithiocarbamate, INADTC] were given to rats ip 2 times at 2.46 mmol/kg. In the following administration of the first injection of DEDTC, cadmium excretion via the urine amounted to 15.8 micrograms and via bile amounted to 124.4 micrograms Cd. Following administration of MGDTC, the urinary and biliary excretions of cadmium were 14.5 and 47 micrograms, respectively, while in the case of INADTC the corresponding values were 23.6 and 7.9 micrograms cadmium. In control animals the urinary and biliary excretion per 12 h reached 0.09 and 0.12 micrograms Cd. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analysis of bile revealed differences in the distribution of Cd in the elution fractions after the first injections of the individual dithiocarbamates. For all three dithiocarbamates, significant decreases of the concentrations of cadmium in the liver and kidney were found. DEDTC (but neither of the other compounds) increased the concentration of cadmium in the brain from control levels of 49 +/- 5 ppb to 105 +/- 16 ppb.