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Electron Probe Microanalyser Localization of Lead in Kidney Tissue of Poisoned Rats

Abstract

ATTEMPTS to explain the morphological changes of the kidney induced by lead poisoning have been concerned chiefly with nuclear and cytoplasmic inclusions1,2. Cytoplasmic inclusions have been shown to contain Fe (ref. 1), but the composition of nuclear inclusions remains a subject for debate. It is still not clear whether lead is deposited within the kidney and some authors deny a direct action of this element in favour of a mechanism of indirect action through vascular changes3. Fortunately, the problem of detection of metallic localizations within the kidney is amenable to direct observations with the electron probe microanalyser, an instrument ideally suited to the purpose, with a detection limit of about 10−15 g and a spatial resolution of about 1 µm (ref. 4).

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References

  1. Galle, P., and Morel-Marager, L., Nephron, 2, 273 (1965).

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  2. Blachman, S. S., Bull. J. Hopkins Hosp., 58, 384 (1936).

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  3. Fishberg, A. M., Hypertension and Nephritis, 606, fourth ed. (Leo and Febiger, Philadelphia, 1939).

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  4. Carroll, K. G., In Vivo Techniques in Histology (edit. by Bourne, G.) (Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1967).

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CARROLL, K., SPINELLI, F. & GOYER, R. Electron Probe Microanalyser Localization of Lead in Kidney Tissue of Poisoned Rats. Nature 227, 1056 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/2271056a0

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