Zinc and Copper Status in Acute Pancreatitis : An Experimental Study

Abstract

Metal ions are required as active components of several proteins, including pancreatic enzymes, and they can play important roles in the etiopathogenesis of acute pancreatitis. In the present study, we measured the concentrations of zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in both serum and pancreatic tissue, as markers of trace element status in an experimental acute pancreatitis model. Twenty-four male Wistar rats were divided into two groups: the experimental group (N=24) and the control group (N=10). Acute pancreatitis was induced by injection of 48% ethyl alcohol into the common biliary duct. The animals were sacrificed 24 h later to detect the concentrations of Zn and Cu. There was no significant difference in tissue Zn and Cu concentrations between control and experimental groups (p<0.05). However, in the acute pancreatitis group, serum Zn and Culevels were very significantly lower (p<0.001 and p<0.0001, respectively). In conclusuion, these findings suggested that altered mineral metabolism in serum and pancreatic tissue may have contributed to the pathophysiology of acute pancreatitis.

Estimation of some vital trace elements in patients with acute pancreatitis: A case-control study

“…The results demonstrated that there was a significant increase in serum Cu and a significant decrease in serum Zn (p <0.001) in acute pancreatitis patients compared with controls. This is consistent with what has been found in a previous study which documented higher Cu levels in chronic pancreatitis patients compared to controls (Girish et al, 2009), but disagrees with the findings of other studies (Ferahman et al, 2003) which documented lower Cu levels in patients with acute pancreatitis. Moreover, regarding Zn levels, the present findings agree with the results documented elsewhere (Ferahman et al, 2003), which reported a significant decrease in Zn levels in patients with acute pancreatitis.…”

“…Recently, many studies have focused on exploring and understanding the potential relationship between trace elements and some diseases such as toxoplasmosis, severe depression, and pancreatic cancer (Farzin et al, 2013;Al-Fartusie et al, 2019a, Al-Fartusie et al, 2019b In fact, the mechanism by how trace metals play roles in the etiology of acute pancreatitis is still unclear. On the other hand, the change in enzymatic activity and its correlations with element concentrations are well documented, even in the early phase of acute pancreatitis (Ferahman et al, 2003). Hence, the aim here is to investigate the serum levels of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) and chromium (Cr) of acute pancreatitis.…”

Clinical Significance of Evaluation of Serum Zinc Concentrations in C-Viral Chronic Liver Disease

“…Thus, zinc plays an important role as a component of numerous enzymes and its deficiency results in various disorders. With regard to diseases of the digestive organs, the serum concentration of zinc has been reported to be correlated with the morbid conditions of gastritis, pancreatitis, colitis, and hepatitis [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Patients with chronic hepatitis C (CH), particularly those with liver cirrhosis (LC) and liver failure, have low serum zinc concentrations [7][8][9].…”

Rat pancreatitis produced by 13‐week administration of zinc oxide nanoparticles: biopersistence of nanoparticles and possible solutions

“…In addition, Zn ionized from ZnO NPs in the acidic lysosomal fluid of macrophages has been reported to cause cell death owing to destabilization of lysosomal membranes (Rudolf and Cervinka, ; Cho et al ., ). Although more studies are needed, the pancreatitis observed in this study might be as a result of the presence of dissolved Zn ions in the gastric juice (Ferahman et al ., ; Mikszewski et al ., ). This pancreatitis is also consistent with a previous study in which ZnO NPs (120 nm) were administered orally to ICR mice for 14 days (Wang et al ., ).…”