Elemental concentration of manganese and potassium in brain and other organs of fetal, sucking and developmental mice

Abstract

Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) was applied to the determination of manganese and potassium in the fetal and suckling organ samples (parietal bone, brain, cardiac muscle, lung, thymus, liver, pancreas, spleen, kidney) and of Mn, K, Na and Cl in the developmental organ (parietal bone, brain, spinal cord, liver) and blood samples from neonatal 2- to 43-days old mice. Significant variations of the elemental concentration patterns were assessed in terms of their tissue specificity and developmental changes due to birth and growth. By comparison of fetal with suckling mice, the concentration variations showed similar patterns among most organs. In the developmental and growing process, however, significant changes of the concentration of Mn and K were observed. Mn concentrations increased with growth in brain and liver, but were constant in spinal cord and parietal bone. K concentrations showed a slight decrease in soft tissues with growth. Similar way, the variation of Na concentration was also close to that of Cl.