[Supplementation of essential trace elements during total parenteral nutrition--effects on trace element-deficient...

Thirty-one male SD rats, six weeks old, were fed a trace element-deficient diet for two weeks and then divided into three groups and maintained for 1 week as follows: group A with total parenteral nutrition (TPN) without supplementation of trace elements, group B with TPN supplemented with the following 5 trace elements ... iron, zinc, copper, manganese and iodine, and group C with a diet free of the above five trace elements. Another group of eight rats was fed a diet supplemented with the above five trace elements for three weeks as a control (group D). Feeding or TPN without supplementation of trace elements evoked microcytic hypochromic anemia and significant decreases in iron concentrations in plasma and tissues (groups A and C). Supplementation of trace elements in the TPN solution showed a tendency to cure anemia and a significant increase in the iron concentration in tibia (group B). Decreases in the zinc or copper concentrations in plasma and tissues during TPN without trace elements were prevented by supplementation of trace elements in the TPN solution (group B). The plasma zinc and copper concentrations correlated well with their levels in liver, kidney and tibia. Manganese deficiency was not recognized in this investigation (groups A and C), though supplementation of trace elements in the TPN solution increased tissue manganese concentration (group B). Feeding or TPN without supplementation of trace elements induced decreases in plasma triiodothyronine and thyroxine (groups A and C). Supplementation of trace elements in the TPN solution showed a tendency to increase plasma thyroxine (group B).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)