Evaluation of Serum Zinc and Copper Concentrations in Epileptic Patients

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant professor of Neurology, Medical School, Mashhad university of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

2 Associate professor of Metabolism and endocrine Physiology, Medical School, Mashhad, Iran

3 BSc, Biology, Mashhad university of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

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ntroduction: Discovering ethiology of epilepsy is inevitable to find effective treatment methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum zinc and copper concentrations in patients with epilepsy.
Materials and Methods: This study was done in 2006. A total ofsixty patients (25 males, 35 females; mean age 22.43±1.18 years) with epilepsy and 60 age-matched healthy subjects (25 males, 35 females; mean age 25.27±1.091 years) enrolled in this study. This study was approved by the local ethics. Serum concentrations of Zn and Cu assessed for all subjects in both groups with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results were demonstrated as Mean± SEM for Cu (μg/lit) and for Zn (μg/dl). The results compared by unpaired t-test and when p<0.05, the differences considered to be significant.
Results: Mean copper level was 947.98±30.39 μg/lit and 967.41±28.25 μg/lit in the case and control group, respectively. The serum concentration of zinc was 86.81±1.55 μg/dl in patients and 94.48 ± 11.11 in the control group μg/dl. The differences between the two groups was insignificant (p>0.05).
Conclusion: In contrast with some other studies which showed a difference in serum concentrations of Cu and Zn in epileptic patients, our data demonstrated that concentrations of serum zinc and copper in epileptic patients are not statistically different from the control group. Therefore, it is suggested that serum levels of Zn and Cu are not the strong determinant factors involved in inducing epilepsy; thus, it can be concluded that epileptic episodes in human may not be related to the serum levels of both trace elements Cu and Zn.

Keywords

medical journal of mashhad university of medical sciences
Volume 51, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
May and June 2007
Pages 103-108

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