TRACE ELEMENTS IN MEDICINE (MOSCOW)
2015. 16(2): 10-17
ORIGINAL PAPERS

APPROACHES TO THE BODY ELEMENT STATUS ASSESSMENT

E.A. Lugovaya1, E.M. Stepanova1, A.L. Gorbachev2

1 Scientific Research Center «Arktika», Karl Marx str. 24, Magadan, 685000, Russia
2 North-Eastern State University, Portovaya str. 13, Magadan, 685000, Russia

DOI: 10.19112/2413-6174-2015-16-2-10-17 

ABSTRACT. To illustrate the complex approach to the body element status assessment, we studied the data from multielement analysis of hair samples taken from male adolescents (18.75 ± 0.19 years old, n = 54) and young adults (27.90 ± 0.46 years old, n = 68) who were born and resided in Russia’s Asian north (the city of Magadan). In the adolescents, median concentrations of Ca, Co, Fe, Se, Al and Pb were below the lower limit of referent interval. In the adult subjects this were observed for Ca, Co, Mg, and Se. The concentration of Si, on the contrary, proved to be higher than the higher referent limit in both adolescents and adults. When comparing the two age groups, the younger ones have almost all essential elements (excepting K and N) lower than the older ones. Besides, the younger subjects demonstrated 13 positive correlations in content of different chemical elements (r > |0.7|, р<0.05), while the older subjects showed only two. Of note, the coefficient of determination in the adolescent males varied from R2 = 0.50 to R2 = 0.77 while in the adult subjects it was from R2 = 0.52 to R2 = 0.64. Thus, the interdependence observed for the element pairs in both examined groups was rather significant, 53–77%. The index of mineral metabolism adaptation was calculated as 48 in the adolescent subjects and 13 in the adult subjects, enabled us to suggest that, in response to the tension which the body experiences at the preadult age, the element system – one of the main regulatory systems – forms the maximal number of stable relations within the system in order to maintain steady balance and functional reserves of the body under the continual exposure to extremes.

KEYWORDS: macro element, trace element, misbalance, element status assessment.