The kinetics of copper uptake by the liver in Wilson's disease studied by a whole-body counter and a double labelling technique.

Abstract

The hepatic uptake of 64Cu in the body was studied by whole-body counting in normal subjects, homozygotes, and heterozygotes of Wilson's disease. Special attention was paid to the copper kinetics during the first hour after injection of 64Cu. Two different measuring techniques were used simultaneously: one collimated NaI(Tl) crystal was in a fixed position over the liver, the counts being recorded by a single channel analyser connected to a multi-channel analyser in a multi-channel scaling mode; and a second collimated crystal makes scanning movements along the body axis, the counts being recorded by a multi-channel analyser in a multi-spectrum scaling mode. With this procedure it is possible to use a double nuclide labelling technique by means of which both the 64Cu values for an organ can be corrected for the 64Cu blood content in the region of interest, and information can be obtained on the actual dynamic 64Cu movement in the body.