The Direct Measurement of Serum Zinc in Pregnant Women and Its Correlation to Alkaline Phosphatase

Zinc is recognized as essential for the activity of a wide range of enzymes. The first demonstration that zinc had a special biological function in relation to enzyme function, came with the discovery that carbonic Anhydrase contained significant amount of zinc which appeared to be required for normal activity. Alkaline phosphatase is a zinc-metalloenzyme that requires magnesium for activity and specific dietary deficiencies of either Zn or Mg, have been found to lower the alkaline phosphatase activity in serum. We took into consideration 100 cases of pregnant women, divided into groups according to fetus age, maternal age, zinc measurements, ALP activity etc. We measured serum zinc directly using by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (VARIAN AAS-220) and at the same time alkaline phosphatase activity by a rapid method using p-nitrophenyl phosphate. The data was analyzed to see if there was any positive correlation between serum zinc and alkaline phosphatase activity in all diseases: Preterm delivery, preeclampsia, anemia, cephalic, anomalies. As a conclusion, the statistical evaluation showed that there was a negative correlation between serum zinc and alkaline phosphatase activity in patients suffering from preeclampsia, whereas a positive correlation in diagnosis such as: preterm delivery, anemia, cephalic and anomalies