The ubiquitous role of zinc in health and disease

Abstract

Historically, the role of zinc in health and disease has been studied through patients with toxicity or severe deficiency with obvious clinical signs. As the ubiquitous contribution of zinc to structure and function in biological systems was discovered, clinically significant but subtle deficiency states have been revealed. In human medicine, mild zinc deficiencies are currently thought to cause chronic metabolic derangement leading to or exacerbating immune deficiency, gastrointestinal problems, endocrine disorders, neurologic dysfunction, cancer, accelerated aging, degenerative disease, and more. Determining the causal relationships between mild zinc deficiency and concurrent disease is complicated by the lack of sensitive or specific tests for zinc deficiency. The prevalence of zinc deficiency and its contribution to disease in veterinary patients is not well known. Continued research is warranted to develop more sensitive and specific tests to assess zinc status, to determine which patients are at risk for deficiency, and to optimize supplementation in health and disease.

ZnT3: a zinc transporter active in several organs

“…Both zinc deprivation and excess can induce apoptosis in the same cell line (Haase et al 2001;Watjen et al 2002;Formigari et al 2007;Cummings and Kovacic 2009;Plum et al 2010). The anti-apoptotic effect of zinc may be conducted by a decrease in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and an inhibition of caspase-3, 6, 7, and 8 by zinc.…”

Degradation and antioxidant activities of peptides and zinc–peptide complexes during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

“…Zinc (Zn), a trace element that is essential for health, is the second most abundant inorganic micronutrient in the body (Cummings & Kovacic, 2009;Hambidge & Krebs, 2007). Several conditions, including growths retardation, hypogonadism, impaired immune system, and neurological dysfunctions, are attributed to Zn deficiency (Maret & Krezel, 2007).…”

Transient receptor potential melastatin type 7 channels are involved in zinc-induced apoptosis in gastric cancer

“…Among them, the exact role of zinc in the regulation of apoptosis is ambiguous. A variety of studies indicate that, depending on its concentration, zinc can either be pro-or anti-apoptotic, and both zinc deprivation and excess can induce apoptosis in the same cell line Formigari et al 2007;Cummings and Kovacic 2009). The induction of apoptosis by high levels of intracellular zinc has been shown in different tissues and cell types (Truong-Tran et al 2001;Watjen et al 2002).…”