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Tissue zinc distribution and exchange in adult rats at zinc deficiency induced by dietary phytate additions: II. Quantitative zinc metabolism of 65 Zn‐labelled adult rats at zinc deficiency
Author(s) -
Windisch W.,
Kirchgessner M.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1439-0396
pISSN - 0931-2439
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0396.1999.00220.x
Subject(s) - zinc , zinc deficiency (plant disorder) , metabolism , anabolism , chemistry , micronutrient , endocrinology , biochemistry , phytic acid , medicine , biology , organic chemistry
Model studies on the effect of zinc (Zn) deficiency on tissue Zn are usually based on fast‐growing animals (e.g. rats). However, the interactions to the anabolic metabolism during growth may limit the possibility of transferring the result to adult individuals living at maintenance level. Furthermore, there is still little knowledge about the quantitative role of complete tissue fractions with respect to the effect of Zn deficiency on whole‐body Zn exchange because most studies focus only on the analysis of some single tissue samples which are regarded as representative. The scarcity of experimental data on tissue Zn at maintenance level results from the difficulty in inducing Zn deficiency of sufficient severity in adult animals on the basis of a semisynthetic diet poor in Zn. The major reasons are the low Zn requirement of an adult individual and the necessity of avoiding dietary components containing complexing agents such as phytate because such components usually also contain considerable amounts of Zn. But phytate per se may intensify Zn deficiency in growing animals (D avis and N ightingale 1975; M orris and E llis 1980, 1989; F orbes et al. 1984). The same applies to adult rats. As shown by W indisch and K irchgessner (1999), raising additions of a purified phytate formulation in semisynthetic diets was successful in inducing an experimental Zn deficiency of graded severity. The respective measurements on the quantitative distribution and exchange of Zn in complete tissue fractions are reported here.