Excretion of metals into the rat intestine.

The acute excretion of metals across the intestinal wall and by bile was investigated in vivo within 2 h after iv administration in rats. Heavy metals of biological interest, such as copper and zinc, and of toxicological importance, such as cobalt, cadmium, mercury, lead, and bismuth, as well as rubidium and strontium as examples of the alkali and alkali-earth metals were chosen. Most of the metals were excreted along a concentration gradient from blood into the intestinal lumen. Rubidium is the only metal excreted against a concentration gradient from blood into the lumen of both the small and large intestines. For all metals investigated, excretion into the small intestine exceeds that into the large intestine. Metal excretion by bile also occurred mainly along a concentration gradient from liver to bile, e.g., cobalt, zinc, mercury, rubidium, and lead, which is chosen as example of this group. Copper and strontium are excreted against a considerable concentration gradient from blood into bile. This holds true also for cadmium and bismuth in low doses.