Objective  To investigate the effect of the metallothionein (MT) and zinc

as chelating antidotes on depleted uranium acute poisoning.   Methods  Totally 70 healthy adult Wistar rats were divided into 7 groups: ① Normal group (N); ②Depleted uranium (DU); ③ ZnSO

4

prevention group (Zn-P); ④ MT prevention group (MT-P); ⑤ ZnSO

4

treatment group (Zn-T); ⑥ MT treatment group (MT-T); ⑦ ZnSO

4

prevention+MT treatment group (Zn+MT). Rat model of acute depleted uranium poisoning was induced by a depleted uranium solution. In pre

vention group

ZnSO

4

solution at 20 mg·kg

-1

·d

-1

or MT solution at 5 mg·kg

-1

·d

-1

was injected intraperitoneally to correponding rats for 2 d

and then those rats were established to model of model of acute depleted uranium poisoning. While for the rats of treatment groups

ZnSO

4

solution or MT solution at above doses were given to depleted uranium acute poisoning rats for 3 d. All the animals were sacrificed to take blood

kidney and liver samples on the 5th day after injection of DU. The effects of detoxication of MT and Zn to DU were observed by testing blood routine

liver and kidney function and renal pathological changes.   Results  Different intervention measures had a certain detoxifying effect

especially ZnSO

4

induced generation of MT in vivo

resulting in some slight pathological changes in kidney. No significant change was observed in parameters of blood routine tests and renal function in different intervention groups.   Conclusion  MT plays a role in detoxification of acute depleted uranium poisoning with no obvious side effects on liver and kidney.