Abstract
Previous studies show significantly decreased levels of zinc transporter 1 (ZnT-1) in the brain of subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) but significantly increased ZnT-1 in late stage AD (LAD). However, the reason for the apparent dichotomy is unclear. Based on in vivo studies that show animals provided a zinc (Zn) deficient diet demonstrate decreased brain ZnT-1, we used inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to quantify serum Zn levels from 18 living mild to moderate AD patients (9 men, 9 women), 19 MCI patients (9 men, 10 women) and 16 age-matched normal control (NC) subjects (9 men, 7 women). Zinc levels for all subjects were not significantly different among any of the three subject groups. However, there was a statistically significant decrease of serum Zn (11.7 ± 0.5 μM) in men with MCI compared to women with MCI (13.7 ± 0.6 μM) and NC men (13.9 ± 0.6 μM). Serum Zn levels in probable AD patients were comparable to those in NC subjects. Overall, these data suggest a significant decrease of serum Zn in men with MCI, may explain the loss of ZnT-1 observed in previous studies and suggest there may be more pronounced sex differences in MCI than were previously recognized.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 443-450 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Alzheimer's Disease |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2008 |
Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease
- Mild cognitive impairment
- Serum
- Zinc
- Zinc transporters
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience (all)
- Clinical Psychology
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Psychiatry and Mental health