One experiment was conducted in which radioactively labeled purine bases (adenine, guanine, hypoxanthine and xanthine) were individually given intravenously to young adult rats and the recovery of radioactivity in urine and gut, gut content and liver was measured at the end of the next 24 hours. The total recovery of radioactivity from orally and intravenously administered adenine was measured in experiment 2. A third experiment measured the recoveries of radioactivity from oral and intravenous adenine in a wider variety of tissues and organs than in experiment 1. The chemical identities of the urinary end products of the metabolism or orally and intravenously administered adenine were compared in a fourth experiment. When purines were given intravenously, significantly more of the administered radioactivity was recovered in urine from rats given guanine, hypoxanthine or xanthine compared with those given adenine. The greater recoveries of radioactivity in urine were associated with smaller recoveries in tissues. A larger proportion of intravenously compared to orally administered radioactivity from adenine was incorporated into all body tissues, and this was most pronounced in glandular and lymphoid tissues. The primary urinary end product of both orally and intravenously administered adenine was allantoin. The absorption of individual purines from isolated rat gut sacs was evaluated in a fifth experiment. A significant proportion of unaltered adenine crossed the mucosal to serosal barrier of intestinal sacs whereas unaltered guanine, hypoxanthine or xanthine did not cross into the serosal fluid. These results show that the intestinal metabolism of dietary adenine is uniquely different from that of guanine, hypoxanthine or xanthine.