Isotopic studies on the absorption and tissue distribution of white phosphorus in rats

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Abstract

The intestinal absorption and distribution of 32P in different tissues of rats intoxicated with this element were studied in this experiment. The results indicated that phosphorus is rapidly absorbed and was mainly incorporated into the liver where it reached its maximum (69–73% of the given dose) within 2–3 hours.

The hepatic subcellular distribution studied at the moments of maximum hepatic incorporation showed that 54% of the total hepatic isotope was present in the supernatant fraction and the rest almost equally distributed between the other subcellular fractions. Although in all the subcellular fractions most of the isotope was present in the TCA-soluble material, the percentage of radioactivity in the TCA-precipitable material of microsomes was substantially higher than in other fractions.

The enzymic studies of this experiment indicated that, unlike CCl4 intoxication, the activity of glucose-6-phosphatase after phosphorus intoxication was increased. All these results may help to explain differences and similarities between CCl4 and white phosphorus poisoning.

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Supported by Grant MT-1904 from the Medical Research Council of Canada.

2

Present Address: Catedra de Patologia, Facultad de Medicine, Jose E. Uriburu 950, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

3

Present Address: Department of Pathology, University of Hawaii Medical School Honolulu, Hawaii 96816.

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