QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Oh, S. H. Articles by Arscott, G. H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Oh, S. H. Articles by Arscott, G. H.

Accumulation and Depletion of Zinc in Chick Tissue Metallothioneins¹

Departments of Agricultural Chemistry and Poultry Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331

Two experiments were conducted with Hubbard broiler chicks on the metabolism of high levels of dietary zinc. In the first experiment, chicks were fed a basal diet or the basal diet plus 500, 1,000, 2,000 or 4,000 ppm zinc, and in the second experiment chicks were fed the basal diet or the basal diet plus 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 8,000 or 16,000 ppm zinc, using zinc acetate. Zinc was found to be associated with 4 peaks when the cytosols from tissues (liver, kidney, pancreas and intestinal mucosa) were eluted through columns of G-75 Sephadex. Although the zinc content of all four peaks increased with increased zinc content of the diet, the greatest elevation occurred in metallothionein (MT). This protein was purified from all four tissues (liver, kidney, pancreas and intestinal mucosa) and the amino acid analysis revealed the presence of about 30% cysteine. Zinc accumulated to the greatest extent (µg in MT/g tissue) in MT of the pancreas. The zinc in MT disappeared very rapidly when chicks which had been fed a diet containing high levels of zinc were fed a low zinc diet, indicating the extreme lability of this metal in this protein. The results suggest the involvement of MT in zinc homeostasis.

KEY WORDS: • metallothionein • zinc • chickens • liver • pancreas • kidney • intestinal mucosa

¹ Published with the approval of the Oregon State Agricultural Experiment Station as Technical Paper No. 5133. This work was supported by Public Health Service Research Grant No. AM 19285 from the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases. This is the eighth paper of a series on the biological function of metallothionein.

² Department of Agricultural Chemistry.

³ Department of Poultry Science.

Manuscript received 12 April 1979.