NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS: CLINICAL AND BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF MANGANESE

From Symposium on Radioactivation Analysis and its Application to the Biological Sciences, Saclay, France, Sept. 1963. The use of neutron activation analysis for studying the metabolism of manganese in the body is discussed. Results of various clinical and biological studies of manganese metabolism are described. Some of the results indicate that pigments (melanin) in general contain high manganese concentrations and might play a role in extrapyramidal diseases. (D.L.C.

State of binding of natural manganese in human cerebrospinal fluid, blood and plasma

IT was suggested earlier1,2 that the physiological behaviour of microconstituents of the body might not be reflected in nutritional, enzymological or even 'physiological' experiments conducted exclusively with pure or synthetic forms of these agents. More specifically, investigations using manganese additives to diets or to enzyme systems in vitro had been quoted as an illustration of experiments that might not bear directly on physiological parameters3. The basis for the reservation lay with the suspicion that these manœuvres might not result in quantitative duplication of the chelates, postulated to be characteristic of individual tissues and foodstuffs, and that, on the contrary, they might create artefactual complexes as well. It was conceded, however, that the natural state of binding of this element had not been investigated and that its natural chelates remained largely putative. © 1962 Nature Publishing Group