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Measurement of Plasma Metallothionein-I in the Assessment of the Zinc Status of Zinc-Deficient and Stressed Rats¹

Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB2 9SB, Scotland

These studies were designed to investigate the effects of stress and of changes in zinc status on plasma and liver concentrations of metallothionein-I (MT-I) in rats and to assess the value of plasma MT-I assays in the diagnosis of zinc deficiency. No MT-I was detected by radioimmunoassay in the plasma or liver of rats made hypozincaemic by feeding diets with <1 or 3 mg Zn/kg. Injection of normal rats with endotoxin or CCl₄ also decreased plasma zinc levels, but these treatments greatly increased MT-I concentrations in both liver and plasma. Moreover plasma MT-I levels in zinc-deprived rats given endotoxin were only slightly greater than those in untreated rats of normal zinc status. Neither plasma zinc nor MT-I levels were altered in starved rats despite increased levels of the protein in the liver, although a slight increase in plasma MT-I was found in rats pair-fed with zinc-deficient animals. It appears therefore that reduced plasma levels of both zinc and MT-I are indicative of a zinc deficiency state and that assay of plasma MT should be of value in the diagnosis of zinc deficiency.

KEY WORDS: • metallothionein • stress • zinc deficiency • zinc status

¹ The financial support of the Ministry of Education, Japan, and of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, U.K., is gratefully acknowledged.

² Present address: Division of Environmental Pollution Research, Fukushima Medical College, Fukushima 960, Japan.

³ Present address: Department of Biophysics, University of Panjab, Chandigarh — 160014, India.

⁴ To whom all correspondence should be sent.

Manuscript received 27 February 1984.