Zinc metabolism in long term alloxan diabetic rats after thermal trauma

Alloxan treated rats with diabetes of 6 weeks' and 15 months' duration respectively were submitted to local cutaneous traumatization with heat and the changes in zinc and copper metabolism were studied. All diabetic animals were hyperzincemic before the traumatization. Previous experiments have demonstrated a fall in serum zinc concentration after traumatization, and this reaction was more pronounced in short term diabetic rats than in controls. In the present study this reaction was less pronounced in the diabetic rats than in the non diabetic controls 15 months after alloxan injection. A time-dependent factor in the development of granulocytic dysfunction is suggested as a cause for the differences in zinc metabolism found between rats with short term and long term alloxan diabetes respectively. The only change in copper metabolism found in this study was a slight increase in copper concentration in the liver after traumatization of rats with alloxan diabetes of 15 months' duration.