Time and Level of Response of Plasma, Liver, Bone, Leachable and Stable Hair Fractions to Copper Deficiency and Loading in the Rat
January 1975
in “
PubMed
”
Studysummary In this study, a copper-deficient diet in rats led to a significant decrease in blood and liver copper levels without causing clinical symptoms, while hair leachable copper and bone copper remained unchanged.
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In this study, 20 adult female rats were divided into two groups to investigate the effects of copper deficiency and supplementation on various tissues. One group was fed a diet with less than 1 p.p.m. copper, while the other received increasing copper levels up to 158 p.p.m. over four months. The study found a significant decrease in blood and liver copper levels in the deficient group from the first month, with stable hair copper also decreasing slightly. However, hair leachable copper and bone copper remained unaffected by the deficiency. Copper supplementation led to increased liver copper at the highest intake level in the fourth month. No clinical symptoms of copper deficiency were observed in the rats.
