Lymphocyte and granulocyte function in zinc-treated and zinc-deficient hemodialysis patients

Lymphocyte blast transformation and granulocyte motility were studied in 20 clinically stable hemodialysis patients, 10 of whom were receiving 50 mg of zinc (as zinc acetate) per day and 10 of whom were not. Plasma zinc concentration was significantly higher in zinc-treated than in untreated patients (108 +/- 5 vs. 82 +/- 2 micrograms/dl). Mononuclear cell subpopulation analysis showed equivalent proportions of T lymphocytes and monocytes in both groups, but B lymphocytes were reduced in untreated patients (10 +/- 0.7 vs 14 +/- 0.5%). Lymphocyte blast transformations in response to nonspecific mitogens, soluble antigen and mixed lymphocyte culture were not significantly different in the two groups, nor was lymphocyte zinc concentration. Zinc-treated patients showed significantly greater granulocyte responsiveness to zymosan-activated serum (21 +/- 1 vs. 14 +/- 2 mean), greater chemokinetic activity (50 +/- 4 vs. 27 +/- 3 mean) and higher granulocyte zinc concentration (114 +/- 6 vs. 47 +/- 2 micrograms/10(6) cells) than untreated patients. Granulocyte zinc correlated significantly with plasma zinc (r = 0.81, P less than 0.001) and with granulocyte motility (r = 0.63, P = 0.001). Moderate zinc deficiency in hemodialysis patients does not result in abnormal lymphocyte blast transformation in vitro, but it does result in granulocyte zinc depletion and impaired granulocyte motility.