Excitatory amino acid (EAA)-induced production of inositolphosphates (IPs) was studied in primary cultures of chick retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) following in vitro incorporation of [3H] myo-inositol. Glutamic acid (L-glu) significantly increased [3H]-IPs accumulation (215%). L-glu agonists stimulated [3H]IPs accumulation in the following order of efficiency: N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) ≥ L-glu > quisqualate ≥ kainate > (1S,3R)-1-aminocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (ACPD). Stimulation was dependent on external Ca2+. The NMDA-induced response was blocked by (+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo-cyclohepten-5,10-imine maleate (MK-801) and 3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP) and was decreased by the L-Ca2+-channel blockers verapamil and nifedipine as well as by dantrolene. The metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) antagonist (+)-α-methyl-4-carboxyphenylglycine (+)MCPG inhibited 3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) and ACPD-induced stimulation, which demonstrates the presence in RPE of mGluRs 1 and/or 5, as well as NMDA receptors coupled directly, or through the influx of external Ca2+, to phospholipase C activation. L-glu agonists showed no effect either on basal level of intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate, nor on forskolin- or carbachol-induced stimulation of adenylyl cyclase. Since L-glu is released from the retina upon illumination, and receptors for this compound are present in RPE, the activation of the inositide pathway could be involved in the regulation of retina-RPE interaction, which is essential for the visual process.

The gastrointestinal absorption and organ distribution of Cd after exposure for 9 weeks to three fibre-rich foodstuffs (wheat bran, sugar-beet fibre and carrots) were determined in mice. Groups of eight mice were given a diet containing 0.05 mg Cd/kg from wheat bran, sugar-beet fibre, carrots or CdCl2 mixed in a semi-synthetic, low-Cd (<0.007mg/kg) feed. A control group was fed on the low-Cd semi-synthetic feed. The water consumption, food consumption and the weight of the animals were monitored throughout the study. The feed was changed once weekly and Cd was analysed in the feed at each change. myo-Inositol phosphates (hexa-, penta-, tetra- and tri-) and Zn, Cu, Fe and Ca were also analysed in the diets. After 9 weeks, the mice were killed and liver and kidneys were sampled and analysed for Cd. The group receiving the wheat-bran diet had significantly lower fractional Cd accumulation (% total Cd intake) in the liver and kidneys than the other groups, indicating a lower fractional absorption of Cd. The wheat-bran diet had markedly higher levels of inositol hexa- and pentaphosphates (phytates) and a Zn level that was twice as high as those in the other diets. The higher levels of myo-inositol hexa- and pentaphosphates in the wheat-bran diet most probably contributed more to the lower fractional absorption of Cd than the elevated Zn level, due to the formation of insoluble Cd–phytate complexes. Compared with the wheat-bran diet, the sugar-beet-fibre and carrot diets contained very low levels of myo-inositol penta- and hexaphosphates, and consequently the fractional Cd absorption from these diets was higher.

Inositol compounds with three to five phosphate groups (IP3–IP5) were produced by hydrolysis of phytate (inositol hexaphosphate, IP6) and their binding affinities for calcium and zinc investigated at neutral pH with relative concentrations that had been found in a range of students' meals. Zn solubility was negligible at many of these concentrations, with less Zn bound to precipitates of Ca-IP6 than Ca-IP5. The capacity to precipitate Zn at these ratios fell between IP5 and IP3. Zn was partially desorbed by soluble chelators (histidine and picolinate), especially when it had been adsorbed to preformed Ca-IP precipitates. A lower proportion of Zn was accessible to soluble chelators from Ca-IP4 than the other compounds. IP3-IP4 were hydrolysed. by phytase more readily than IP5–IP6.