Degradation of zinc metallothionein after intravenous zinc administration in chicken liver and pancreas
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
Previous results from the authors' laboratory have indicated that metallothionein (MT) mRNA levels following oral or parenteral zinc do not correspond to the accumulation of protein in liver and pancreas. Since the degradation of MT may influence the ultimate accumulation of MT in various tissues, the present study was conducted to investigate the rate of zinc MT degradation in liver and pancreas. Four-week-old male chicks were given intravenous zinc injections as zinc acetate. At various times, liver and pancreas were excised and homogenized. The cytosolic zinc MT was determined by gel filtration chromatography. To confirm relative tissue differences in the concentration of MT, G-75 fractions containing zinc MT from liver and pancreas cytosol were concentrated by ultrafiltration. Equal amounts of concentrate were subjected to PAGE and silver stain enhancement analysis. The results of PAGE verified that indeed the pancreas possesses over 2x higher MT than liver. Zinc MT degradation analysis was conducted beginning 24 hours following zinc administration. Since MT mRNA levels were minimal in both tissues after this time, changes in the concentration of MT were considered to reflect primarily degradation. The half-life of zinc MT for pancreas and liver was calculated to be 3.2 days and 2.0 days, respectively. Degradation rates of zinc MT in liver and pancreas were 0.0149 {plus minus} .005 h{sup {minus}1} and 0.0085 {plus minus} .004 h{sup {minus}1}, respectively. These data suggest that the rate of degradation of zinc MT in liver and pancreas accounts, in part, for the observed differences in MT concentration.
- OSTI ID:
- 5146201
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9104107-; CODEN: FAJOE
- Journal Information:
- FASEB Journal (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology); (United States), Vol. 5:5; Conference: 75. annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), Atlanta, GA (United States), 21-25 Apr 1991; ISSN 0892-6638
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
METALLOTHIONEIN
METABOLISM
ZINC
BIOLOGICAL HALF-LIFE
CHICKENS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
ELECTROPHORESIS
INTRAVENOUS INJECTION
LIVER
MESSENGER-RNA
PANCREAS
ANIMALS
BIRDS
BODY
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
ELEMENTS
ENDOCRINE GLANDS
FOWL
GLANDS
INJECTION
INTAKE
METALLOPROTEINS
METALS
NUCLEIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PROTEINS
RNA
SEPARATION PROCESSES
VERTEBRATES
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology