LONGITUDINAL CHANGES IN SERUM ZINC CONCENTRATION AND DISTRIBUTION AFTER ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

The authors studied the changes in serum zinc concentration and distri bution during the 15 days following acute myocardial infarction in 21 patients, The method is based on ultrafiltration and electrothermal at omic absorption spectrometry. It is rapid and needs only 2.5 mi of ser um. Serum and erythrocyte copper and zinc, serum zinc-binding ligands and serum enzyme activities were also determined. Serum zinc (P < 0.00 001) and exchangeable zinc (mainly albumin-bound zinc, P = 0.01) decli ned within the first 3 days and then returned gradually to reference r anges. Exchangeable zinc was correlated with transthyretin (P= 0.00001 ) and total serum zinc (P < 0.00001), Exchangeable zinc accounted for virtually all of the differences in total serum zinc concentration aft er myocardial infarction. This result could be related to an increase of zinc uptake by tissues. Therefore, studies are needed to evaluate w hether zinc supplementation in the early stages of acute myocardial in farction might improve prognosis.