Methyl bromide is used as a disinfectant to fumigate soil and a wide range of stored food commodities in warehouses and mills. Human exposure occurs during the manufacture and use of the chemical. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the disposition and metabolism of [14C]methyl bromide in rats after inhalation. Male Fischer-344 rats were exposed nose only to a vapor concentration of 337 nmol [14C]methyl bromide/liter air (9.0 ppm, 25 degrees C, 620 torr) for 6 hr. Urine, feces, expired air, and tissues were collected for up to 65 hr after exposure. Elimination of 14C as 14CO2 was the major route of excretion with about 47% (3900 nmol/rat) of the total [14C]methyl bromide absorbed excreted by this route. CO2 excretion exhibited a biphasic elimination pattern with 85% of the 14CO2 being excreted with a half-time of 3.9 +/- 0.1 hr (means +/- SE) and 15% excreted with a half-time of 11.4 +/- 0.2 hr. Half-times for elimination of 14C in urine and feces were 9.6 +/- 0.1 and 16.1 +/- 0.1 hr, respectively. By 65 hr after exposure, about 75% of the initial radioactivity had been excreted with 25% remaining in the body. Radioactivity was widely distributed in tissues immediately following exposure with lung (250 nmol equivalents/g), adrenal (240 nmol equivalents/g), kidney (180 nmol equivalents/g), liver (130 nmol equivalents/g), and nasal turbinates (110 nmol equivalents/g) containing the highest concentrations of 14C. Radioactivity in livers immediately after exposure accounted for about 17% of the absorbed methyl bromide. Radioactivity in all other tissues examined accounted for about 10% of the absorbed methyl bromide. Elimination half-times of 14C from tissues were on the order of 1.5 to 8 hr. In all tissues examined, over 90% of the 14C in the tissues was methyl bromide metabolites. The data from this study indicate that after inhalation methyl bromide is rapidly metabolized in tissues and readily excreted.