EFFECTS OF ALUMINUM-CHLORIDE ON NORMAL AND UREMIC ADULT MALE-RATS - TISSUE DISTRIBUTION, BRAIN CHOLINE-ACETYLTRANSFERASE ACTIVITY, AND SOMEBIOLOGICAL VARIABLES

Normal and uremic adult male rats were given a daily ip injection of 2 0 mg Al (Al chloride)/kg for 14 d. The results indicate that Al induce s a significant decrease in food ingestion, weight gain, and total pro tein concentration in the plasma. Compared with control animals, very high increases in Al levels were found in plasma and hepatic homogenat es (about 36 and 19 times, respectively). In the brain homogenates, th e Al increases were lower (about 23%). The brain cholineacetyltransfer ase activity was reduced: 10.6 and 14.9% in normal and uremic rats, re spectively. The nephrectomy and the food restriction did not affect th e total protein concentrations in plasma and the cerebral cholineacety ltransferase activity. Both were only found to be reduced in the rats treated by Al chloride.