Iron, zinc, and copper concentration in serum, various organs, and hair ofdogs with experimentally induced exocrine pancreatic insufficiency

The concentration of iron, zinc, and copper in serum, pancreas, liver, duod enum, kidneys, myocardium, brain, and hair was studied in dogs with experim entally induced exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Exocrine pancreatic insu fficiency was performed surgically in eight healthy, 8-month-old, mongrel d ogs (group I). An equal number of dogs, of the same breed and age, were use d as controls (group II). One month postoperatively, the dogs in group I sh owed symptoms of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, confirmed by the serum Trypsin-like immunoreactivity test, and on autopsy, by histological examina tion of the pancreas. At the end of the experiment (20-week duration) the d ogs in both groups were sacrificed. The values of serum iron, percentage tr ansferrin saturation, and iron concentration in pancreas, duodenum, and kid neys in group I dogs were significantly higher than those in control animal s. The concentrations of zinc in serum, pancreas, and myocardium and of cop per in serum, pancreas, duodenum, myocardium, and hair in group I dogs were significant lower than those in control animals. Histological examination of various organs of group I dogs revealed severe atrophy and fibrosis of t he pancreas, fatty infiltration of the liver, destruction and reduction in height of the villi of the duodenal epithelium, and diffuse infiltration of the duodenal lamina propria with lymphocytes and plasmocytes.