Evaluation of blood concentrations of copper and molybdenum in type 2 diabetic patients

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic diseases in humans. The blood concentrations of various trace elements, such as copper (Cu) and molybdenum (Mo), are altered in diabetes mellitus, which may have a significant role in the pathogenesis and progress of this disease. This study was aimed to evaluate the levels of copper and molybdenum concentrations in diabetic patients and healthy subjects. A total of 87 patients with type 2 diabetes and 45 participants with normal blood glucose were included in this study. The blood levels of Cu and Mo concentrations were measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GF-AAS). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 19.0 software. Biochemical factors were compared using student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney test and Pearson correlation coefficient. The results showed a significant increase in mean Cu level in diabetic patients (394.11 ± 10.08) compared to healthy subjects (134.34 ± 3.66), however a significant decrease was found in mean Mo level in diabetic patients (8.41 ± 0.141) compared to healthy subjects (16.45 ± 0.72). Statistical analysis showed a significant positive correlation between the concentrations of each element with diabetes. The study indicates that type 2 diabetes can alter the blood levels of copper and molybdenum. The results of this study confirmed that the level of copper in diabetic patients is higher than healthy subjects, and that the level of molybdenum in diabetic patients is lower than that of healthy subjects. In addition, increasing or decreasing the copper concentration has no significant effect on the concentration of molybdenum in diabetic patients, meaning that there is no significant correlation between the two variables in diabetic patients. © 2017 Fatemeh Alian et al.