This study was carried out to investigate the renal handling of d- and l-lactate and the extent of their metabolism in men. Ten healthy male subjects were given an intravenous (IV) infusion of a racemic mixture of d- and l-lactate. At an infusion rate of 1.0 to 1.3 meq/kg body weight of each isomer, d-lactate achieved a concentration in plasma of 1.7 to 3.0 meq/L, and l-lactate 2.8 to 4.2 meq/L. At these levels, fractional excretion of d-lactate ranged from 40% to 65%, while fractional excretion of l-lactate was always less than 5%. At a higher infusion rate, 1.8 to 2.0 meq/kg/h, plasma concentrations of d- and l-lactate reached 4.5 to 6.0 meq/L, and 4.0 to 6.7 meq/L, respectively. Fractional excretion of d-lactate then ranged from 61% to 100%, while that of l-lactate ranged from 9% to 30%. At plasma concentrations of d-lactate less than 3.0 meq/L, reabsorption of l-lactate was nearly complete, but when plasma d-lactate exceeded 3.0 meq/L, reabsorption of l-lactate was considerably impaired. Similarly, for a given concentration of plasma d-lactate, its reabsorption was more efficient when the plasma l-lactate concentration and fractional excretion of l-lactate were low than when they were high. At an infusion rate of d-lactate of 1.0 to 1.3 meq/L, about 90% of the infused lactate was metabolized, and at a higher infusion rate, still more than 75% of the infused lactate was metabolized.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)