Specificity of zinc pathway in the rabbit: zinc-cadmium exchange

Abstract

Marked perturbations of Zn65 clearance curves and subsequent blood and tissue radioactivity levels were produced in rabbits by the injection of either ZnSO4 or of CdSO4 carriers. The responses to challenge with cadmium loading, although not identical, were sufficiently similar to those obtained with zinc to suggest that cadmium may be an antimetabolite for zinc. In contrast, no deviations from control experiments were produced by injections of CuSO4, Ga(C2H3O2)2, or HgCl2. Hence, those segments of the physiological pathway of zinc through the body that were tested by these experiments proved to have sufficient specificity to discriminate completely against these latter elements.