Hypertension: heavy metals, useful cations and melanin as a possible repository.

Popular belief has often attributed the disproportionate occurrence of hypertension in blacks to the increased social stresses faced by the minority population. Evidence now points to a more biologically relevant explanation of black hypertension, an increase in levels of heavy metals. Preferentially bound to melanin, cadmium, lead, and copper have implications not only in the etiology of black hypertension, but in the etiology of all hypertension. Of course, hypertension is heterogeneous by nature and cannot be attributed solely to any single cause. However, the indictment of the heavy metals, as well as a deficiency of other cations such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium, warrants a more nutritional approach and less reliance on current pharmacological therapy in selected cases. Melanin should be investigated as a storage bank for useful cations. If real, such a cation reservoir would explain the heat tolerance capacity of blacks and other dark-skinned tropical races.

Cesium chloride: preventive medicine for radioactive cesium exposure?

Cesium is produced in high yield fission of uranium and plutonium. Radioactive cesium needles are a radiation hazard for radiotherapists. In this age of nuclear reactors, i.e. Chernobyl, radioactive cesium exposure may be a growing problem. Furthermore, there are numerous therapeutic potentials for cesium therapy, i.e. cancer, depression and schizophrenia. We explored the clearance of cesium in man and found that an oral dose of 50 mg maintains elevated blood cesium levels for 80 days. Cesium is accumulated mainly in the red blood cell fraction. Larger doses (6-9 grams) produce no observed harmful effects and maintain elevated blood levels of cesium for more than a year. Our data suggests there is a threshold of maximum cesium saturation in blood; if maintained, any additional cesium exposure, i.e. radioactive cesium, would be excreted at a more rapid rate. It is probable that large cesium doses can protect against radiation toxicity by blocking sites on red blood cells and thereby result in increased excretion and clearance of the radioactive forms of cesium. This hypothesis should be easily testable in laboratory animals.

Epochal trace elements and evolution.

The use of some trace elements by plants and animals during the evolutionary process has resulted in epochal changes. Noteworthy is the fact that plants (but not animals) needed boron in order to grow stems and roots as they left the seas and became anchored on land. Iodine is plentiful in sea water but rare on land. Therefore, the iodination of tyrosine provided an iodine transport mechanism which allowed for the metamorphosis and the development of warm bloodedness--a great evolutionary advantage. Zinc from clay was needed for the formation of the first primitive nucleic acids and, later, the presence of zinc in the retina provide the enhanced night vision of the nocturnal predators--a natural advantage. Hence, boron, iodine and zinc can be termed epochal trace elements. Inquiry should be directed towards the possible roles of other trace elements, which may have been epochal in evolution.

Zinc, the brain and behavior.

The total content of zinc in the adult human body averages almost 2 g. This is approximately half the total iron content and 10 to 15 times the total body copper. In the brain, zinc is with iron, the most concentrated metal. The highest levels of zinc are found in the hippocampus in synaptic vesicles, boutons, and mossy fibers. Zinc is also found in large concentrations in the choroid layer of the retina which is an extension of the brain. Zinc plays an important role in axonal and synaptic transmission and is necessary for nucleic acid metabolism and brain tubulin growth and phosphorylation. Lack of zinc has been implicated in impaired DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis during brain development. For these reasons, deficiency of zinc during pregnancy and lactation has been shown to be related to many congenital abnormalities of the nervous system in offspring. Furthermore, in children insufficient levels of zinc have been associated with lowered learning ability, apathy, lethargy, and mental retardation. Hyperactive children may be deficient in zinc and vitamin B-6 and have an excess of lead and copper. Alcoholism, schizophrenia, Wilson's disease, and Pick's disease are brain disorders dynamically related to zinc levels. Zinc has been employed with success to treat Wilson's disease, achrodermatitis enteropathica, and specific types of schizophrenia.

Determination of zinc in fingernails by non-flame atomic absorption spectroscopy.

The determination of Zn in fingernails directly using the graphite furnace presented certain difficulties due to the anomalous behavior of the analyte in the furnace. The appearance of two peaks which were due to Zn and not to any background interference was noted. The Zn value obtained by adding the area of these two peaks compared fairly well with Zn levels determined by wet ashing and subsequent determination either in the furnace or flame. Wet ashed samples gave only a single peak. It was possible to produce a model of the phenomenon with various Zn salts in a non aqueous matrix. Under these conditions ZnSO4 and ZnO gave a discretely different peak from ZnC12 or metallic Zn. Several tissues such as serum, whole blood, cuticle, and hair were examined for multiple peak formation. Direct determination of Zn in fingernails with the graphite furnace is possible for certain applications such as the determination of Zn levels of white spots in fingernails. For this purpose it is possible to use a sample size as small as 20 mug using the 2138 Zn line. This allows one to run several determinations on a single white spot. However, where sample size is not a limitation, wet ash digestion prior to determination in the furnace is probably the preferred procedure.