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The present study was designed to evaluate the early aspects of the renal accumulation and intrarenal distribution of inorganic mercury in rats given a nontoxic 0.5 μmol/kg or a moderately nephrotoxic 2.0 μmol/kg intravenous dose of mercuric chloride. Each dose of mercuric chloride contained between 1.0–1.5 μCi ²⁰³Hg²⁺ in order to make it possible to follow the pattern for the intrarenal accumulation of inorganic mercury with standard gamma-counting techniques. Within the first 5 min after injection of either dose of mercuric chloride, about 70% of the dose of mercury was abstracted from blood. About 10% of the dose was in the combined renal mass, with the greatest fraction in the cortex. The liver contained about 5% of the dose. By the end of the first 3 h after injection of either dose, greater than 90% of the dose of mercury had been abstracted from the blood. At this time, about 8% of the dose was in the liver …