Physiological Studies of Rhenium Compounds

Abstract

Discussion and Summary

Although about 20 of the rare elements have received some attention in pharmacology and some of these (thallium, gallium) have distinctive properties, rhenium surprises observers by its relatively low toxicity and general inertness in the body. The lethal dose for rats is of the order 900-1000 mg per kg of body weight. In rats it lacks the hemopoietic stimulus of Cobalt or Germanium, develops visible symptoms only in large doses, and produces only small transitory changes in blood pressure. Symptoms resembling the convulsions produced by strychnine suggest that the spinal cord has a high selectivity for the salts of Re.

We are indebted to L. C. Hurd for preparing and for supplying the NaReO₄ used in this report.