COMPARATIVE METALLOBIOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON PRESENT ENVIRONMENTAL LEVELS OF ARSENIC IN MAMMALS I. NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS OF NANOGRAM LEVELS OF ARSENIC IN TISSUES OF LABORATORY ANIMALS

Radiochemical neutron activation analysis has been developed for the determination of arsenic down to 0.1 ng in the tissues of 5 month old rabbits and in the diet to which animals were exposed. Much effort was devoted to study all possible interferences and contaminations. The application of NAA to metabolic studies in laboratory animals exposed to present environmental levels of arsenic shows marked differences between the concentrations of the element in the tissues of rats and rabbits, suggesting that arsenic follows different metabolic pathways in these animals.