Metabolism of Exogenous Sialic Acid in the Rat.

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Abstract
Sialic acid (SA), prepared from beef sub-maxillary mucin and assayed by the thiobarbituric acid assay, was administered to rats intra-arterially, intraperitoneally, subcutaneously, and also orally with and without antibiotic pretreatment of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Cannulation experiments demonstrated the removal of intra-arterially administered SA (100 mg/kg body wt) in one hour. Renal ligation showed that SA similarly administered reached equilibrium with the body fluids in 2 hours and maintained this level for 4 hrs. Utilization was probably not a major factor in the clearance of SA from the blood. Eighty to ninety per cent of the intraperitoneally and subcutaneously administered SA (9-68 mg/kg body wt) was excreted in the urine in the first 6 hours. The % of SA detected in the urine increased as the dosage increased, which may indicate saturation of the systems degrading SA. Orally administered SA (36-315 mg/kg body wt) was not detected in the urine or feces. After antibiotic pretreatment of the GI tract, SA was detected in the feces but not in the urine. This indicated that intestinal bacteria destroyed orally administered SA, and also indicated little or no absorption of SA across the intestinal wall.

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