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This study reports assay methodology, tissue distribution, and the basic pharmacokinetic behavior of centchroman and its 7-desmethyl metabolite [7-desmethyl centchroman (DMC)] after a single 12.5 mg/kg po dose in young female rats. Plasma, liver, lung, spleen, uterus, and adipose tissue were collected at various time intervals up to 14 days after dose. Reversed-phase HPLC, coupled with fluorescence detector, was used for simultaneous determination of centchroman and DMC in biosamples. The drug and metabolite were quantitated up to 2 and 5 ng/ml in plasma and 10 and 20 ng/g in tissues, respectively. The assay method was validated in terms of accuracy, precision, interassay, and intraassay variability, and was found to be reliable and reproducible. Peak centchroman levels in all of the tissues were found between 8-12 hr, whereas DMC peaks appeared between 8 and 24 hr, except that in liver the first peak of 1.2 micrograms/g appeared in the 1-hr sample. Tissue-to-plasma concentration ratios of centchroman were > 200 times in the lung; > 100 times in the spleen, liver, and adipose tissue; and > 40 times in the uterus at maxima in each tissue. Similarly, tissue concentrations of DMC were > 350 times in the lung, > 100 times in the liver and spleen, and > 25 times in the uterus and adipose tissue than in the plasma. High tissue-to-plasma concentration ratios of metabolites than the parent drug are indicative of its greater affinity for tissues. Terminal half-life of the centchroman and DMC in plasma were 24.1 and 36.6 hr, respectively. The mean residence time of centchroman was highest in the liver (78.4 hr), followed by the uterus (72.7 hr), adipose tissue (47.5 hr), lung (46 hr), spleen (44.1 hr), and plasma (37.7 hr). The mean residence time of DMC was also highest in the liver (133.7 hr), followed by the uterus (122 hr), adipose tissue (85.2 hr), lung (62.6 hr), spleen (62.6 hr), and plasma (48.2 hr).