A-Venturi Sebastiano

Biology

Cesium is absorbed by animal and plant cells competitively with potassium, but cesium has no any known beneficial function; however, at high concentrations, can cause toxicity in plants, seen as growth inhibition. In fact, the mammalian organisms have, during evolution, began to distinguish useless non-radioactive cesium from potassium, which is essential in the Na + / K + pump of animal cell membranes. This is clearly visible in the poor uptake and selectivity for cesium in liver and fetuses in the Nelson's autoradiographies .. The human organism expels the useless Cesium through two emunctories: the salivary glands and the exocrine pancreas, which filter, and eliminate cesium with their secretions (saliva and pancreatic juice) in the intestine. In fact, the "Prussian Blue" (ferric ferrocyanide) in the intestine is able to chelate cesium, thus preventing its reabsorption, and to eliminate it in the faeces .