A method of studying the intestinal absorption of aluminium in the rat

Aluminium (Al) intoxication in dialysis patients is held to be caused not only by Al in the dialysis fluid but also by Al from orally administered phosphate binders. Studies on Al absorption in patients and healthy individuals as well as in animals are still scarce, and do not provide sufficient data to characterize the absorption process. This paper presents a method of studying the process of Al absorption in a perfusion system of rat small intestine in vivo, in combination with a cannulation system of the portal vein for serial blood sampling. Determination of concentrations of an absorbed substance in samples of both the perfusion medium and the portal blood, collected during the perfusion medium and the portal blood, collected during the perfusion period, may clarify the nature of the absorption process. Although this method appears to be useful for the study of the intestinal absorption of any substance, it was adapted for the study of the intestinal absorption of Al compounds. The usefulness of this method for studying Al absorption was demonstrated in an experiment in which Al chloride (0.5 g/l) in buffered media of pH 7.0, 7.5, and 8.0 was perfused through the rat small intestine over a period of at least 30 min. The results of this experiment indicate that a decrease in pH of the perfusion medium leads to an increase in absorption of Al in the portal blood.