Zinc, Plasma or Serum
Other names: ZINC, SERUM
In healthy individuals, plasma or serum zinc are reliable markers of zinc status, mainly reflecting zinc intake. Because the effective regulation of zinc homeostasis buffers the functional response to dietary deficiency and excess, plasma zinc levels are generally considered a poor measure of marginal zinc deficiency.
Urinary zinc excretion (24-h) and hair zinc can provide useful information on zinc status in zinc-supplemented persons, but whether these reflect zinc status in depleted persons is not clear. Zinc levels are typically measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), however, they can be assessed using AAS as well.
Serum and plasma zinc concentrations are the most widely used biochemical indicators of zinc status. Because of the different procedures used for collecting blood and separating serum or plasma, their respective zinc concentrations are not necessarily identical. For example, in two studies in which blood samples were collected simultaneously from the same individuals and separated as either serum or plasma, the zinc concentrations were greater in serum than in plasma. One set of investigators speculated that the observed differences could be explained by the fact that the serum samples were separated from blood cells after a longer delay than the plasma samples, so more zinc exited from the cells into serum than into plasma.
What does it mean if your Zinc, Plasma or Serum result is too high?
Zinc may be elevated with zinc supplementation or fasting. Elevated zinc concentrations may interfere with copper absorption.
Elevated results may be due to skin or collection-related contamination, including the use of a noncertified metal-free collection/transport tube. If contamination concerns exist due to elevated levels of serum/plasma zinc, confirmation with a second specimen collected in a certified metal-free tube is recommended.
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What does it mean if your Zinc, Plasma or Serum result is too low?
Zinc depletion occurs either because it is not absorbed from the diet (excess copper or iron interfere with absorption) or it is lost after absorption. Dietary deficiency may be due to absence (parenteral nutrition) or because the zinc in the diet is bound to phytate (fiber) and not available for absorption. Excess copper and iron in the diet (eg, iron supplements) interfere with zinc uptake. Once absorbed, the most common route of loss is via exudates from open wounds or gastrointestinal loss. Zinc depletion occurs in burn patients who lose zinc in the exudates from their burn sites. Hepatic cirrhosis causes excess loss of zinc by enhancing kidney excretion. Other diseases that cause low serum zinc are ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease, regional enteritis, sprue, intestinal bypass, neoplastic disease, and increased catabolism induced by anabolic steroids. The conditions of anorexia and starvation also result in low zinc levels.
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