Ultrastructural and kinetic studies of copper metabolism in Bedlington Terrier dogs

The objectives of this study were to determine the time course of copper (Cu) absorption in the Bedlington Terrier (BT) dog after duodenal infusion of Cu and to determine the onset of Cu accumulation in BT puppies. At 80 minutes after infusion, Cu was present in the bile and liver at 26.1 and 2675 microg/g dry weight (dw), as compared with 598 and 224 microg/g dw, respectively, in the control. In the puppies, the mean liver Cu concentrations were 443 +/- 216 microng/g dw as compared with 54 +/- 34 microg/g dw in their controls. The BT puppies had large numbers of Cu granules in their hepatic lysosomes, with very few in the bile canaliculi. In contrast, the controls had few granules in their lysosomes and large numbers in their canaliculi. These results suggest that hepatic Cu accumulation occurs rapidly and in utero in the BT.