Measurement of zinc, copper, manganese, and iron concentrations in hair of pituitary dwarfism patients using flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry

摘要

Pituitary dwarfism (hGHD) is known to be associated with trace element deficiency, which causes improper functioning of the involved endocrine system. Previously, we reported on the head hair concentrations of zinc, copper, manganese, and iron from a total of 418 normal subjects (154 male and 264 female). In this report, we analyzed the head hair concentrations of the same four trace metals of 103 hGHD children (60 male and 43 female) under treatment with human growth hormone (hGH). These subjects ranged in age from 5 to 18 yr. The results were compared with 338 agematched normal subjects (120 male and 218 female). Both male and female hGHD showed approx 1.7 times higher zinc concentrations than normal subjects. Cheruvanky et al. reported a similar trend but with a slightly lower difference between hGHD and normal subjects.