[Determination of delta aminolevulinic acid in the urine of cows in acute mass lead poisoning].

The concentration of delta aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in the urine of dead heifers (n = 3), diseased cows (n = 13) and clinically healthy cows (n = 29) was determined in the course of acute mass intoxication with lead. At the same time, the content of lead was determined in kidney, liver, in rumen contents of dead heifers and in the beet pulp fed to the animals. The ALA concentrations were converted to values per uniform specific weight of urine and per gram of creatinine secreted with urine. As found, the determination of ALA concentration per gram of creatinine is diagnostically insignificant in the case of lead poisoning. The average ALA values in the urine of the dead and clinically diseased cows (221.0, 119.9 and 72.3 mumol per litre) markedly differed from the average values of ALA concentrations in the urine of the clinically healthy animals (41.2, 32.8 and 25.6 mumol per litre). Owing to the wide variability of the determined ALA concentration in urine it appeared useful in cases of suspicion of lead poisoning of cattle to determine ALA concentration in the urine of the group of clinically diseased animals and in the group of clinically healthy animals in order to compare ALA secretion with urine in the two groups. A 2.9-fold average increase of ALA in the urine of clinically diseased animals, compared with the ALA values in the urine of clinically healthy animals, already testifies to lead intoxication.