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Metallothionein and its Relationship to the Metabolism of Dietary Zinc in Rats^1,2,

Department of Nutrition, Rutgers University-The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903

Metallothionein (MTN), a low molecular weight cytoplasmic metalloprotein has previously been implicated in the metabolism of Zn. Experiments were conducted with rats to determine the effect of feeding varying levels of dietary Zn for short time periods on the increase or decrease in MTN-bound Zn. The results indicated that MTN-Zn in both liver and intestinal mucosal cytosol responded rapidly to an altered dietary Zn level and that serum Zn was directly related to the appearance of MTN. ⁶⁵Zn absorption also responded rapidly to a change in dietary Zn and was inversely correlated with intestinal mucosal MTN-Zn. Hepatic ⁶⁵Zn uptake appeared to be directly correlated with liver MTN-Zn. A 24 hour fast increased MTN-Zn in rats fed two different levels of Zn except in those rats that were previously treated with actinomycin D. The antibiotic, which blocks DNA-dependent RNA synthesis, appeared to block Zn uptake from blood to the liver. These findings offer support for the involvement of MTN in zinc metabolism.

KEY WORDS: • zinc • metallothionein • homeostasis • metabolism

¹ Supported in part by Public Health Service Grant No. AM 18555 from the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases.

² Presented in part at the American Institute of Nutrition meeting, Anaheim, California, April, 1976. Abstract published in Federation Proc. 35, 659, 1976.

³ To whom reprint requests should be addressed.

Manuscript received 14 April 1976.

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