Zinc Status of Untreated Histidinemic Children

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Abstract
In order to study Zn status in histidinemia, serum and hair Zn concentrations were measured in 40 untreated children with histidinemia (age 2 mo.-5 yr). In 20 children (> 2 yr of age) Zn content and carbonic anhydrase activity of erythrocytes and urinary excretion of Zn were also studied. The amount of Zn excreted was elevated in histidinemic children and showed a positive correlation with the urinary histidine concentration (.gamma. = 0.57, P < 0.005). The means of serum Zn concentration, erythrocyte Zn concentration, and erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase activity were all similar in the histidinemic and the control children. Hair Zn concentration of histidinemic children was compared with that of controls of 5 different age groups: < 5 mo., 5-18 mo., 18 mo.-2 yr, 2-4 yr, and 4-5 yr. In all of these age groups, hair Zn content was similar. The incidence of low-hair-Zn level (< 80 .mu.g/g) in histidinemic children > 5 mo. of age (9 of 34) was significantly higher than in controls (18 of 180), P < 0.05). The observation suggested the possibility that untreated histidinemia may cause chronic mild Zn deficiency in some histidinemic children.