Study of chromium speciation in normal and diabetic rats by activable enriched stable isotope technique

Chromium speciation was investigated in the liver cytosol, serum and urine of normal and diabetic rats after a single intravenous injection of enriched stable isotope 50Cr tracer solution. Sephadex G-25 gel chromatography combined with instrumental neutron activation analysis was used to isolate and characterize protein-bound chromium in the above materials. The results indicate that Cr is mainly combined with a high-molecular-weight protein either in liver cytosol or serum. A low-molecular-weight, Cr-containing compound (LMWCr) was found in all the observed liver, serum and urine samples of both normal and diabetic rats. Chromium is excreted chiefly as LMWCr in urine. (author)