Accelerator mass spectrometry: application to study of aluminum kinetics in the rat.
The advent of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) now permits the ultrasensitive detection of extremely long-lived isotopes, including 14C, 26Al, and 41Ca. Until now, tracer studies of aluminum kinetics have not been possible because aluminum has only two isotopes, with half-lives of 6.5 min (29Al) and 7 x 10(5) yr (26Al), neither of which is suitable for conventional studies. In a novel experiment we have employed AMS to study aluminum kinetics in a normal rat and a 5/6-nephrectomized rat over a 3-wk period of intravenous injection of a tracer dose of 26Al. Kinetics were similar in the two animals; approximately 75% of intravenously injected tracer 26Al was excreted in the urine in the first 24 h as was approximately 80% after 3 wk. Renal clearance of 26Al was approximately 0.75 ml.min-1.kg body wt-1 in both rats. The results clearly demonstrate the potential of this technique for isotope tracer studies in animals as well as in humans.
Meirav
O
O
Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Sutton
R A
RA
Fink
D
D
Middleton
R
R
Klein
J
J
Walker
V R
VR
Halabe
A
A
Vetterli
D
D
Johnson
R R
RR
D000535:Aluminum / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000652:urine; D000818:Animals; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007668:Kidney / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009392:Nephrectomy; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013997:Time Factors
D000535:Aluminum