Metabolic Calcium Balance in Rats with Chronic Renal Failure Assessed Using 42Ca Tracer

Objective: This study's objective is to explore the effect of venous calcium (Ca) load on Ca metabolism using an isotope tracer in both healthy rats and rats with chronic renal failure (CRF). Materials and Methods: The methods included inducing CRF by feeding rats with food that containing 0.75% adenine. Both the rats in the control and CRF group received an intravenous injection of 100 mg/kg CaCl2 mixed with 0.5 mg/kg 42Ca for over 2 minutes in order to induce hypercalcemia. Blood samples, urine, and feces were collected for Ca kinetics and metabolism testing before and 24 hours after the injection. Results: Peak blood Ca levels were presented at 5 minutes in both groups but returned to baseline levels differently: within 3 hours in the CRF group and 1 hour in the control group. 24-hour hypercalciuria and a higher weight-corrected fecal Ca loss were consistently detected in the CRF rats before and after the injection, along with a decrease in the percent fractional Ca absorption and true fractional calcium absorption compared to the control group. The increased fecal Ca in the CRF rats primarily resulted from changes in decreased absorption rate, which indirectly lead to an increase in endogenous fecal Ca (EFC). Body weightcorrected EFC levels in the CRF group were significantly higher than those in the control group (207.58 ± 107.18 mg/kg/day vs. 62.44 ± 20.49 mg/kg/day). In addition, EFC was 22.6% and 26.02% of the total fecal Ca in the CRF group and the control group. Conclusion: These results may be useful in the evaluation of calcium metabolism and may have important implications for stable isotopes that are widely used in exploring calcification studies in the CRF.