Abnormalities in Cu and Zn levels in acute hepatitis of different etiologies.

Background: Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn) are essential trace elements which play an important role in various biological processes. Zn deficiency is common in liver diseases while Cu deficiency is rarely reported. To determine whether serum Cu and Zn concentrations differed in acute hepatitis, compared to controls and investigate possible correlations of Cu and Zn values with etiology and severity of liver diseases.

Methods: Serum Cu and Zn concentrations were determined by air acetylene flame atomic absorption spectrometer in 40 patients (acute hepatitis A, B, C, autoimmune and drug induced hepatitis) and 150 healthy controls.

Results: Compared to healthy controls, significantly higher Zn levels were found in patients (106.5 μg/dl, P <0.01). Abnormal levels of either Cu and/or Zn were found in 48% of patients vs 23.3% of the controls (P =0.01). Ten patients had abnormal Zn and fourteen had abnormal Cu levels. There was a trend for the severe hepatitis cases to have abnormal Cu values and in this subgroup Cu and Zn were positively correlated with prothrombin time and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, respectively. Cu and Zn levels did not differ statistically across groups of different etiologies.

Conclusions: Abnormalities in Cu and Zn concentrations are common in acute hepatitis. Cu and Zn exhibited positive correlations with prothrombin time and ALT respectively, in severe cases.