AJP - Renal Physiology, Vol 260, Issue 3 466-F469, Copyright © 1991 by American Physiological Society
Accelerator mass spectrometry: application to study of aluminum kinetics in the rat
O. Meirav, R. A. Sutton, D. Fink, R. Middleton, J. Klein, V. R. Walker, A. Halabe, D. Vetterli and R. R. Johnson
Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
The advent of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) now permits the
ultrasensitive detection of extremely long-lived isotopes, including 14C,
26Al, and 41Ca. Until now, tracer studies of aluminum kinetics have not
been possible because aluminum has only two isotopes, with half-lives of
6.5 min (29Al) and 7 x 10(5) yr (26Al), neither of which is suitable for
conventional studies. In a novel experiment we have employed AMS to study
aluminum kinetics in a normal rat and a 5/6-nephrectomized rat over a 3-wk
period of intravenous injection of a tracer dose of 26Al. Kinetics were
similar in the two animals; approximately 75% of intravenously injected
tracer 26Al was excreted in the urine in the first 24 h as was
approximately 80% after 3 wk. Renal clearance of 26Al was approximately
0.75 ml.min-1.kg body wt-1 in both rats. The results clearly demonstrate
the potential of this technique for isotope tracer studies in animals as
well as in humans.
