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Journal of Nutrition Vol. 94 No. 3 March 1968, pp. 344-350
Copyright © 1968 by American Society for Nutrition
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Zinc Deficiency in the Rat: Effect on serum and intestinal alkaline phosphatase activities1,2,

Richard W. Luecke, Mary E. Olman and Betty V. Baltzer

Department of Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

In three separate experiments zinc deficiency was produced in weanling rats fed a low zinc diet (0.9 ppm Zn) containing spray-dried egg white solids as the protein source. Preliminary studies with this diet showed that high levels of supplementary biotin were required to prevent symptoms of biotin deficiency from appearing. Symptoms of zinc deficiency included severe growth retardation and a rough, thin hair coat, but no other gross lesions. Parakeratotic lesions were confined to the tongue and esophagus, and there was no evidence of spermatogenesis in the seminiferous tubules of the testes. A reduction in intestinal alkaline phosphatase activity was noted which was not affected by the reduced food intake of the zinc-deficient animals. In addition, the in vitro incubation of duodenal homogenates from zinc-deficient animals with various concentrations of zinc between 1 x 10-8 and 1 x 10-3 M failed to increase alkaline phosphatase activity to that of the positive controls. The decrease in intestinal alkaline phosphatase activity in the zinc-deficient animals was found to occur when two different substrates were used. It is concluded that the concentration of this enzyme is reduced in the duodenum of the zinc-deficient rat. However, the reduction in serum alkaline phosphatase activity was apparently the result of inanition since restricted-fed control animals also showed a reduced enzyme activity.

1 Published with the approval of the director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station as Journal article no. 3973.

2 We thank Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories for their courtesy in supplying the vitamins used in the various diets.

Manuscript received 13 November 1967.




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