The paper deals with recent achievements concerning the physiological role of copper in the human organism. The problem of copper supplementation of the human diet is discussed. An outlook is given on the contemporary theories referring to the role of copper in nutrition. Special attention has been paid to the copper-containing enzymes and copper-dependent enzymes as well as to the problem of nutritional copper deficiencies. This paper shows the necessity of copper for: --"cleaning" of the organism from the excesses of free radicals, biogenic amines and cholesterol --the proper synthesis of hemoglobin, elastin, collagen and probably thyroid hormones --providing the energy formed in the respiratory chain and needed for biochemical syntheses and proper physical activity.

Sex dependence of copper, zinc, iron nutritional status and hepatic lipid peroxidation was studied in gonadectomized, hormone substituted and sham-operated male and female rats. The experiment was performed on H-Wistar rats (106 +/- 10 g) fed conventional laboratory food ad libitum for 12 weeks. The estrogen dependence of copper status is fully confirmed by the results of this study. In hormonally active females the malondialdehyde production was depressed which is supposed to be connected with high copper and low triglyceride levels in the liver. The anaemia observed in estrogen substituted rats may be a result of lower lipid peroxidation rate. The levels of retinol and alkaline phosphatase activity in sera are probably influenced by estrogen action. It is suggested that testosterone leads to acceleration of lipid peroxidation.

The aim of this experiment was to study the interrelationships between nutritional status of chosen trace elements (Cu, Zn, Fe) and hepatic lipid peroxidation in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Both copper accumulation and disruption of iron storage were observed in livers of diabetic rats. MDA 0' (baseline) and MDA 30' (produced) levels measured in the liver were negatively correlated with blood glucose levels. MDA 30' levels correlated positively with iron concentration in the liver. It is supposed that the hormonal lability during experimental diabetes caused changes in metabolism of trace elements, and subsequently influenced the rate of lipid peroxidation.

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The effect of gonadectomy and sex hormone substitution on the activity of naphthyl butyrate esterase in rat serum was investigated. This enzyme was found to be strongly oestrogen-dependent. ] ) Enzyme:Pancreatic carboxyl ester hydrolase (EC 3.1.1.-); naphthyl butyrate esteraseData are means ± SD. Statistical significance was calculated by the Student's unpaired t-test. Means not sharing a common letter are significantly different (p < 0.001).