[Manganese determination in blood from malnourished children]

We investigated the serum manganese (Mn) concentration of 52 children less than two years old. 22 of them were healthy controls (C), 13 had marasmatic (M) malnutrition and 17 kwashiorkor (K). The measurements of Mn were done in an atomic absorption spectrophotometer with a graft furnace oven. The serum was diluted with 1% triton X-100. For the quantification of Mn we used the addition method. There was a significant difference between the levels of Mn measured in the M group (1,582 +/- 0.673 micrograms/L), and the K group (1,811 +/- 0.700 micrograms/L) and levels obtained in the controls (3,212 +/- 1,247 micrograms/L). When we compared the concentration of Mn by sex or age in each group, we didn't find any significant difference. We conclude that the severe malnourished children in our study present lower concentrations of Mn as compared with controls.