[Analysis of trace elements of the brain and liver tissues in Wilson's disease]

In a patients with extrapyramidal-cortical form of the Wilson-Konovalov disease, brain and liver tissues were tested for Ca, Cu, Fe, Ka, Mg, Mn, Mo, P, Pb, Se, Sn, Sz, Zn, S, using plasma emission spectrometry. The tissues autopsied from 2 cerebral hemorrhage victims served as controls. Hepatic Cu concentration was increased 24-fold (6.89 mumole/g of tissue dry weight); Cu accumulation in the brain cortex and basal ganglia were 10 times as high as control levels; hepatic (8.78 mumole/g) and brain cortical (2.23 mumole/g) Zn contents were higher than controls, respectively by factors of 2 and 1.7; hepatic S content (289.4 mumole/g) was 1.2 times the control level; Mn brain content was above the control value. Mg was below the appreciable amount in the brain that was not the case in control. On the contrary, Sr was detected only in basal ganglia and liver in the patient and not detected in control tissues. Pb content in the patient's liver was above the control level.