Absorption, retention and excretion of 65Zn in rats with wounds treated with 65Zn-labelled zinc tape.

Absorption, retention and excretion of 65Zn in rats from excisional wounds treated with 65Zn-labelled zinc tape were studied. The absorption of 65Zn was marked and indicates that the absorption of zinc from the tape is more than sufficient to account for the increases in zinc concentrations seen in several tissues. The distribution, retention and excretion of 65Zn from the zinc tape followed a pattern similar to that of 65Zn injected into non-operated and operated rats. This indicates that the zinc from the tape is present in the body not as zinc oxide, as it is in the adhesive substance of the tape, but as zinc in those forms which are originally found in the body and that zinc oxide is ionized before absorption. In tissues with a rapid uptake of zinc more than 50% of the total concentration of zinc derived from the zinc tape after eight days of treatment. In operated animals which were not treated with zinc tape a decline was seen in the serum zinc concentration and excretion of zinc with a concomitant increase in the liver concentration of zinc.