Retention of 45Ca in Rats and Lambs Associated with the Onset of Nutritional Muscular Dystrophy

Abstract

Nutritional myopathy has been induced in both rats and lambs by feeding diets low in selenium. The distribution of 45Ca, administered as 45CaC12, has been examined firstly by autoradiography, and secondly by measuring the excretion of 45Ca in urine and faeces. Autoradiographs of skeletal muscle from unsupplemented animals showed radioactivity over discrete muscle fibres at a stage when no abnormalities were apparent using conventional staining techniques. Similar retention of 45Ca was found in some of the tubules in the kidneys of selenium-deficient rats. .