Dmsa Health Dictionary

See LEAD POISONING – Treatment.

dimercaptosuccinic acid, which when labelled with *technetium-99m is used as a tracer to obtain *scintigrams of the kidney, by means of a *gamma camera. DMSA binds to the proximal tubules of the kidney. It is used particularly to show renal scarring, resulting from infection, and to assess the relative quantity of functioning tissue in each kidney.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) the genetic material of nearly all living organisms, which controls heredity and is located in the cell nucleus (see chromosome; gene). DNA is a *nucleic acid composed of two strands made up of units called *nucleotides (see illustration). The two strands are wound around each other into a double helix and linked together by hydrogen bonds between the bases of the nucleotides (see base pairing). The genetic information of the DNA is contained in the sequence of bases along the molecule (see genetic code); changes in the DNA cause *mutations. The DNA molecule can make exact copies of itself by the process of *replication, thereby passing on the genetic information to the daughter cells when the cell divides.