Absence of zinc cytotoxicity: Effect of short-term zinc oral administration on rat gastric mucosa

Zinc ions have been reported to stabilize cellular membranes, protecting the gastric mucosa against a wide variety of ulcerative agents. The treatment with zinc sulfate intragastrically administered as one dose (20 mg/Kg body weight) daily for 30 consecutive days did not modify the normal aspect of rat gastric mucosa as observed by electron sanning microscopy. Furthermore, the X-ray microanalysis of the lysosome content performed on different gastric mucosa cells did not show the zinc element. These results suggest that zinc ion is a relatively nontoxic element for the rat gastric mucosa