北米の健常児と自閉症スペクトラム障害児における血清亜鉛と銅の同位体組成について

Isotopic composition of serum zinc and copper in healthy children and children with autism spectrum disorder in North America.

抄録

自閉症スペクトラム障害（ASD）に関連する亜鉛と銅の調節と様々な生化学的経路への関与をより理解するために、北米の健常児とASD児の両方で血清亜鉛と銅の同位体組成を評価した。血清中の亜鉛と銅の同位体組成は、健常対照者とASD児とで有意な差は確認されませんでした。しかし、男児の血清銅の同位体組成は、これまでに発表された健康な成人の銅の同位体組成と比較して、Cuに富んでいることが判明しました。さらに、少年少女ともに、血清亜鉛の平均同位体組成は、既発表の健康成人同位体亜鉛組成と比較して重くなっていることがわかった。また、男児では、血清中の総亜鉛濃度と血清中の亜鉛同位体組成の間に負の相関が見られた。最後に、銅の同位体組成が重い子どもは、亜鉛の同位体組成にも高いばらつきが見られました。成人の血清亜鉛と銅の同位体組成を測定した研究は数多くありますが、本研究は、子ども、特にASDと診断された子どもの血清銅と亜鉛の同位体組成を測定した最初の研究の一つです。本研究の結果、ASDを含む様々な疾患の研究に同位体組成分析を効果的に使用するためには、年齢や性別に応じた同位体組成の正常範囲を設定する必要があることが示されました。

To better understand zinc and copper regulation and their involvement in various biochemical pathways as it relates to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), isotopic composition of serum zinc and copper were evaluated in both healthy children and children with ASD in North America. No significant difference in isotopic composition of serum zinc or copper with respect to healthy controls and ASD children were identified. However, the isotopic composition of serum copper in boys was found to be enriched in Cu in comparison to previously published healthy adult copper isotopic composition. Furthermore, in both boys and girls, the average isotopic composition of serum zinc is heavier than previously published healthy adult isotopic zinc composition. There was also a negative association between total zinc concentrations in serum and the zinc isotopic composition of serum in boys. Finally, children with heavier isotopic composition of copper also showed a high degree of variability in their zinc isotopic composition. While numerous studies have measured the isotopic composition of serum zinc and copper in adults, this is one of the first studies which measured the isotopic composition of serum copper and zinc in children, specifically those diagnosed with ASD. The results of this study showed that age and gender specific normal ranges of isotopic composition must be established to effectively use isotopic composition analysis in studying various diseases including ASD.