**3.3 Comparison between analysis of fresh and deparaffinized samples**

Liver zinc concentrations in fresh and deparaffinized samples were compared by Student t test for paired samples, and there were no statistically significant differences between these two groups (p = 0.057).


An Assay for Determination of

concentration in the whole liver.

Adams et al. (1991) Healthy controls (n=21)

Flame AASa

Flameless AASa

Graphite furnace AASa

Table 2. Zinc concentration in hepatic tissue according to the literature.

Particle-induced X-ray emission

Kollmeier et al. (1992) Unselected necropsies (n=58)

Bush et al. (1995) Unselected necropsies (n=30) ICP-ESb AASa

Treble et al. (1998) Unselected necropsies (n=73)

b ICP-ES = inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy.

Hatano et al. (2000) Healthy controls (n=21)

a AAS = atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

Hepatic Zinc by AAS – Comparison of Fresh and Deparaffinized Tissue 75

enzyme which plays a key role in collagen synthesis. These two assumptions could explain the role of zinc in collagen deposition and reabsorption in liver disease, the role played by zinc in

Some reports found an increase in liver zinc concentrations in chronic liver disease. An increase in copper and zinc liver concentrations was found in Canadian children with chronic cholestasis (Phillips et al., 1996). Another case report described the increase in zinc concentration in hepatic tissue of a child with hepatosplenomegaly and symptoms of zinc deficiency, and the authors speculated about the existence of a zinc metabolism disorder (Sampson et al., 1997). A study that investigated the concentration of metals in liver tissue of adults with hereditary hemochromatosis found an increase in zinc in the liver parenchyma. The authors suggested that the concurrent increase in iron and zinc might be explained by

The test usually conducted to determine body zinc is the measurement of plasma zinc concentration. However, plasma zinc concentrations do not seem to reflect the concentration found in the liver parenchyma (Göksu & Özsoylu, 1986; Sato et al., 2005). This may be explained by the fact that there are very efficient homeostatic mechanisms to correct plasma or serum zinc deficiencies, which makes it difficult to diagnose marginal deficiency by using this method. Therefore, the investigation of zinc concentration in liver tissue is important.

Studies report a great variation in liver zinc concentrations, maybe due to the different techniques used (Table 2). Kollmeier et al. (1992) studied the distribution of zinc in adult liver parenchyma from necropsy material, and found a small variation in intraorgan metal concentrations. They reported that zinc concentrations in the liver do not seem to be associated with sex or age (Kollmeier et al., 1992). Another study, conducted with children by Coni et al. (1996), confirmed these findings. They measured the concentration of metal in necropsy material from infants that died of sudden infant death syndrome and from pediatric control subjects, and found that a small liver sample is representative of liver

Author and year Subjects and technique Zinc concentration in liver tissues

(µg/g dry tissue)

326.3 ± 65.4

280.0 ± 178.0

191.0 ± 56.3

118.3 ± 44.4

281.0 ± 25.5

liver fibrosis and in the evolution of chronic hepatitis toward cirrhosis (Faa et al., 2008).

the greater intestinal absorption of these metals (Adams et al., 1991).


a SD = standard deviation,b RSD = relative standard deviation (%).

Table 1. Liver zinc concentration in samples of fresh and deparaffinized bovine liver tissue.
