Turnlund J R
USDA, ARS, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Albany, CA 94710.
J Nutr. 1989 Jan;119(1):7-14. doi: 10.1093/jn/119.1.7.
Stable isotopes are valuable tools for research on mineral bioavailability and metabolism. They can be used as tracers with no exposure to radiation and they do not decay over time. Attempts to use stable isotopes of minerals as metabolic tracers were first described only 25 years ago. There were relatively few reports of their use over the next 15 years, but interest in stable isotopes has expanded markedly in the last 10 years. The advantages of stable isotope tracers are so great that scientists have been willing to accept the laborious and costly nature of mineral isotope analysis, and substantial progress has been made in the field. New applications for stable isotopes and new analytical methods have been introduced recently. However, limitations to the approach and methodological problems remain to be resolved. This review describes early work in the field and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of stable isotope tracers and of the various methods of analysis. Information discovered with stable isotopes is reviewed, and probable future applications are discussed.
稳定同位素是研究矿物质生物可利用性和代谢的宝贵工具。它们可作为示踪剂使用，不会产生辐射暴露，且不会随时间衰变。将矿物质稳定同位素用作代谢示踪剂的尝试最早是在25年前才被描述的。在接下来的15年里，关于其应用的报道相对较少，但在过去10年中，对稳定同位素的兴趣显著增加。稳定同位素示踪剂的优势非常大，以至于科学家们愿意接受矿物质同位素分析的繁琐和成本高昂的特性，并且该领域已经取得了实质性进展。最近引入了稳定同位素的新应用和新分析方法。然而，该方法的局限性和方法学问题仍有待解决。这篇综述描述了该领域的早期工作，并讨论了稳定同位素示踪剂以及各种分析方法的优缺点。对利用稳定同位素发现的信息进行了综述，并讨论了可能的未来应用。
