51 

 following a 7 d adjustment period during which all the animals 

 were fed the basal diet. Protocol for animal care had been 

 approved by the University of Florida's Institutional Animal 

 Care and Use Committee. 



Blood samples were obtained via jugular venipuncture on 

 d 1 before animals were administered the concentrate and 

 biweekly thereafter. To obtain serum, samples were 

 centrifuged at 700 x g for 25 min, supernatant decanted and 

 frozen until analyzed for Zn and Cu concentrations. To obtain 

 hematocrit (HCT) percentages, blood was centrifuged at 700 x 

 g for 10 min. Serum and blood samples were then submitted to 

 a lab on the day of withdrawal for creatine kinase (CK) , x- 

 glutamyl-transferase (GGT) , aspartate amino transferase (AST) 

 and heinz bodies determinations. At the end of the experiment 

 on d 78, all surviving animals were stunned with a captive 

 bolt shot and euthanized by exsanguination . 



Parts of the liver and kidney were excised and taken to 

 the veterinary hospital for necropsy and other parts were 

 frozen for further mineral analyses . Copper and Zn in 

 tissues, serum and diet samples were analyzed by air acetylene 

 flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry on a Perkin-Elmer 

 Model 5000 with AS-50. 



Results 



Animal 77 (CuSOJ died of natural causes (related to Cu 

 toxicosis) on d 28 and was consuming an average of only 20 g/d 



