Long-Evans cinnamon (LEC) rats 60 days old showed a concentration of 127.7 +/- 10.9 micrograms/g of Cu in the liver, compared to 1.6 +/- 0.1 micrograms/g in Fischer rats 60 days old. At 2 hr after an oral injection of 64Cu, total retention of 64Cu in the whole blood, liver and kidneys was 16.8 +/- 3.4% of the dose in LEC rats, compared to 13.1 +/- 1.3% in Fischer rats. The recovery rates of retained-64Cu in the livers in LEC and Fischer rats were 82% and 59%, respectively. More than 90% and about 60% of hepatic 64Cu existed in the cytosol fraction in LEC and Fischer rats, respectively. Furthermore, more than 90% of the cytosolic 64Cu was found as MT in LEC rats. In Fischer rats, this proportion was about 60%. In the duodenum mucosal cytosol fraction from LEC rats, about 50% of 64Cu was bound to metallothionein (MT) protein. In Fischer rats, this proportion was less than 20%. When a 64Cu compound was intraperitoneally injected, 70% and only 15% were recovered in the liver 20 hr after the injection in LEC and Fischer rats, respectively. Furthermore, LEC rats showed very low 64Cu activity in the serum, and their duodenal activities were slightly low compared to Fischer rats. These results suggest that the gross accumulation of hepatic Cu is mainly due to deficient excretion of Cu from the liver.