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The Effects of Dietary Zinc on the Activity of Copper-Requiring Metalloenzymes in the Rat^1,2,

Mary R. L'Abbé^3,*,, and Peter W. F. Fischer^*

^* Nutrition Research Division, Bureau of Nutritional Sciences, Food Directorate, Health and Welfare Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0L2 Department of Animal Science, MacDonald Campus of McGill University, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, Canada H9X 1C0

It has long been known that zinc interferes with copper absorption and metabolism. In the present study, the effects of feeding rats 15, 30, 60, 120 or 240 mg Zn/kg diet on their copper status, as assessed by the activities of cupro-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD) and cytochrome c oxidase (CCO) in heart and liver, and ceruloplasmin (Cp) in serum were determined. Although Cp activity was not related to zinc intake in a linear fashion, the number of animals with extremely low Cp activity increased with increasing zinc. The level of zinc at which 50% of animals would have abnormally low Cp activity was calculated to be 125–129 ppm zinc. Liver SOD and heart CCO activities decreased linearly with increasing zinc and were significantly reduced compared to controls at 120 and 240 ppm Zn, respectively. Thus, animals fed zinc at levels as low as four times the AIN recommended concentration showed biochemical signs of copper deficiency.

KEY WORDS: • copper • zinc • interaction • ceruloplasmin • superoxide dismutase • cytochrome c oxidase

¹ Publication No. 172 of the Bureau of Nutritional Sciences.

² A portion of these results was previously presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies, Ottawa, June 13–17, 1983. L'Abbé and Fischer (1983) CFBS Proc. 26, 64 (abs. PA-96).

³ This work was carried out in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.Sc. degree from McGill University.

Manuscript received 20 September 1983.

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