A stable isotope study of zinc kinetics in Irish setters with gluten-sensitive enteropathy

Abstract

The short-term kinetics of Zn turnover were studied in Irish setters with gluten-sensitive enteropathy and control dogs following intravenous injection of 0·25 mg 96·5% enriched 70ZnCl2. The 70Zn enrichment of serum was found closely to obey two-compartment kinetics and the derived two-compartment decay equation was used to calculate the size and turnover of the two initial rapidly exchanging pools of body Zn. In normal Irish setters isotopic Zn initially equilibrates with a pool (a) of size 1·27 (SD 0·46) μmol/kg and then with a second pool (b) of size 6·83 (SD 1·72) μmol/kg. The fractional turnover of pool (b) was approximately one eighth that of pool (a). Enteropathic dogs showed no reduction in the size of either rapidly exchangeable Zn pool, reduction in serum Zn concentration or abnormality in Zn balance and hence these results do not support the possibility of an underlying Zn deficiency in this disorder.