Cellular Constituents. Major and Minor Metals in Normal and Abnormal Tissues

Abstract

Assessment of the usefulness of emission spectrography for comparative analyses of six elements, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo and Zn, in rat liver has been made. It has uncovered the presence or absence of differences in the concentrations of these metals in livers between age groups, animals on different diets, pregnant animals and male animals with normal, regenerating and tumourous organs. A discernible trend in concentrations of certain elements from the embryonic tissue to that of the adult animal emerged. In some instances the abnormal and regenerating materials appeared to carry lower or higher amounts of the element compared with normal livers. With molybdenum, the livers of embryonic, newborn and young animals had low concentrations, slowly increasing; the results obtained with older animals formed a higher level rugged plateau.