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Arch Toxicol (2012) 86:521534 DOI 10.1007/s00204-011-0775-1
REVIEW ARTICLE
Zinc and human health: an update
Christos T. Chasapis Ariadni C. Loutsidou
Chara A. Spiliopoulou Maria E. Stefanidou
Received: 18 October 2011 / Accepted: 26 October 2011 / Published online: 10 November 2011 Springer-Verlag 2011
Abstract The importance of micronutrients in health and nutrition is undisputable, and among them, zinc is an essential element whose signicance to health is increasingly appreciated and whose deciency may play an important role in the appearance of diseases. Zinc is one of the most important trace elements in the organism, with three major biological roles, as catalyst, structural, and regulatory ion. Zinc-binding motifs are found in many proteins encoded by the human genome physiologically, and free zinc is mainly regulated at the single-cell level. Zinc has critical effect in homeostasis, in immune function, in oxidative stress, in apoptosis, and in aging, and signi-cant disorders of great public health interest are associated with zinc deciency. In many chronic diseases, including atherosclerosis, several malignancies, neurological disorders, autoimmune diseases, aging, age-related degenerative diseases, and Wilsons disease, the concurrent zinc deciency may complicate the clinical features, affect adversely immunological status, increase oxidative stress, and lead to the generation of inammatory cytokines. In these diseases, oxidative stress and chronic inammation may play important causative roles. It is therefore important that status of zinc is assessed in any case and zinc deciency is corrected, since the unique properties of zinc may have signicant therapeutic benets in these diseases. In the present paper, we review the zinc as a multipurpose
trace element, its biological role in homeostasis, proliferation and apoptosis and its role in immunity and in chronic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, depression, Wilsons disease, Alzheimers disease, and other age-related diseases.
Keywords Zinc Health Zinc biology Metallothioneins
Oxidative stress Apoptosis Immune response
Introduction
Zinc (Zn) is a ubiquitous trace element. It is one of the most important trace elements in the body, and it is indispensable to the growth and development of microorganisms, plants, and animals. It is found in all body tissues and secretions in relatively high concentrations, with 85% of the whole body zinc in muscle and bones, 11% in the skin and the liver, and the remaining in all the other tissues, with the...