Zeolite minerals play a significant role in many fields of industry, practice, and health protection. Therefore, it is of great importance to study their features and properties.
Because of their specific structure, zeolites – natural and modified, are excellent absorbents. They can work at the cellular level by trapping heavy metals and toxins, particularly lead (Pb), and safely removing them from the body. If lead enters in the organism per os, zeolite substances are able to absorb Pb in the gastrointestinal tract and thus to confine its concentration in the blood.
Clinoptilolite, a mineral from the Zeolite group, is known as one of the most excellent toxin absorbents.
In this book the changes of genetic and physiological characteristics of experimental animals intoxicated with Pb and supplemented with clinoptilolite are presented.
Lead was used in a 90-day ecotoxicological experiment. A clinoptilolite sorbent, prepared on the base of natural Bulgarian zeolite, was applied as an antidote. The diminishing of lead concentrations in the body and organs of the experimental animals significantly improved the animal state, determined by the chromosome aberrations, mitotic index, erythrocyte morphology, erythropoesis, and body weight. The dietary inclusion of the sorbent reduced the lead concentrations in the Pb-exposed and clinoptilolite-supplemented mice by 84%, 89%, 91%, 77%, and 88% in carcass, liver, kidneys, bones and feces, respectively.
In such studies it is important to make quantitative analyses with a view to establish the development of the animal state and determine some genetic and physiological characteristics of the exposed and treated animals. For that reason we constructed a mathematical model for the change with the time of the mitotic index, during the experiment. For the first time such a model was elaborated.
On the base of the model the coefficient of Pb absorption by gastrointestinal mucosa in the supplemented mice was found: \(\eta\) = 3.53% (versus \(\eta\) = 15% in non-supplemented ones). It shows that the animals’ recovery goes in parallel with the Pb bioaccumulation, and the susceptibility of the mouse’s organism to Pb load decreases, while the recovery rate of the genetic apparatus increases with time.
The book will be useful for scientist, lectures, teachers, students, and for a wide audience of readers.
