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Association of Serum Heavy Metals and Trace Element Concentrations with Reproductive Hormone Levels and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in a Chinese Population

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Abstract

To investigate the serum concentrations of 11 heavy metals and trace elements in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A total of 369 women (including 96 patients with PCOS) were studied. No differences with statistical significance in the median barium, cadmium, lead, arsenic, chromium, gallium, strontium, and vanadium concentrations were observed between the patients with PCOS and the control group. Serum nickel (Ni) (P = 0.000) and copper (Cu) (P = 0.000) levels were significantly higher, but zinc (Zn) levels (P = 0.009) were significantly lower in patients with PCOS compared with the control group. The results of the association between metal levels and hormone levels indicated that Ni, Cu, and Zn may play a role in the pathogenesis of PCOS related with reproductive hormone levels. The findings in the present study should be investigated with further trials in order to obtain new insights into PCOS.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Medical Science and Technology Innovation Project of Nanjing Military region (10MA065) and the project of the Xiamen Science and Technology Program (2013Z20134027). We thank Professor John Hodgkiss for his assistance with English.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gynaecology, The Affiliated Chenggong Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361002, China

    Lijun Wang, Zhizhun Guo, Lingbin Sun, Lingling Wang & Huiling Qiu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Guanchao Zheng, Lingbin Sun, Chonggang Wang & Zhenghong Zuo

Authors
  1. Guanchao Zheng
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  2. Lijun Wang
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  3. Zhizhun Guo
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  4. Lingbin Sun
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  5. Lingling Wang
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  6. Chonggang Wang
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  7. Zhenghong Zuo
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  8. Huiling Qiu
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Correspondence to Zhenghong Zuo or Huiling Qiu.

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Guanchao Zheng and Lijun Wang are co-first authors.

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Zheng, G., Wang, L., Guo, Z. et al. Association of Serum Heavy Metals and Trace Element Concentrations with Reproductive Hormone Levels and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in a Chinese Population. Biol Trace Elem Res 167, 1–10 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0294-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0294-7

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