The regional distribution of lead in normal rat brain.

A modified method of rat brain dissection resulting in the isolation of 13 discrete brain regions, namely: olfactory bulbs, frontal cortex, rest of cortex, corpus callosum, hippocampi, amygdalae, corpus striatum, colliculi, tegmentum, thalami, hypothalamus, pons-medulla and cerebellum was developed and is presented in detail. The method was then used to determine the region distribution of Pb in the normal rat brain. Considerable regional variation in Pb content was noted. The hippocampi revealed the highest concentration of the metal (487 +/- 64 ng/g) and the thalami the lowest (102 +/- 35 ng/g).