Brain regional distribution of the minor and trace elements, Na, K, Sc, Cr, Mn, Co, Zn and Se, in mice bred under Zn-deficient, -adequate and -excessive diets

Abstract

Instrumental neutron activation analysis was to study the regional distributions of the minor (Na, K) and trace (Sc, Cr, Mn, Co, Zn, Se) elements in mice bred under the controlled diets with Zn content from 0.7 to 3520 ppm in small amounts of brain regions (cerebral cortex, corpus striatum, hippocampus, thalamus and hypothalamus, midbrain, cerebellum, pons and medulla, olfactory bulb). The trace elements were distributed heterogeneously among all brain regions and concentrated in corpus striatum and hippocampus. No significant changes were observed in Zn concentration of most brain regions among the mice bred under Zn-deficient ([Zn] = 3.6 ppm), -adequate and -excessive diets. The results indicate that the homeostasis of Zn seems to be maintained and the brain regional concentrations of Zn seem to be generally constant in all brain regions over a wide range of dietary Zn content from a deficient content as few ppm up to apparently excessive content as 3520 ppm. In an extremely severe Zn-deficient diet ([Zn]<0.7 ppm) where mice can hardly survive, the brain regions may have higher Zn concentration.