Decreased bioelements content in the hair of patients with Fahr's disease (idiopathic bilateral calcification in the brain).

Abstract

The remarkable calcification of the basal ganglia and cerebellum has been traditionally called Fahr's disease, but this nomenclature is criticized for including heterogeneous diseases. To determine the pattern of some biological metals in the hair of patients with Fahr's disease, we investigated the levels of 24 bioelements in the hair of 28 patients (17 males and 11 females) with Fahr's disease and compared them with those of three age-, sex-, and living region-matched controls (84 controls in total). Interestingly, we found decreases in the levels of several bioelements [calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), mercury (Hg), iodine (I), nickel (Ni), phosphate (P), lead (Pb), and selenium (Se)] in the hair of patients. This is in contrast to our previous finding of increases of Cu, Fe, zinc (Zn), and magnesium (Mg) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients. The decreased level of Cu in the hair was the most prominent and pathognomonic, while the increased level of Cu in the CSF had been found to be the most significant in patients. More significant correlations between two bioelements in the hair were recognized in patients than controls. Although Fahr's disease has been considered to be a heterogenous entity, the significant tendencies of several bioelements in the hair of patients in this study suggest metabolic disorders of bioelements, especially biometals, on the background. Some transporters, especially P transporter such as PiT2, of bioelements will be involved in the different distribution of bioelements in the body of patients.

• Authors: Mari Takagi, Kazuhiro Ozawa, Hiroshi Yasuda, Mitsuko Douke, Kazunori Hashimoto, Yuichi Hayashi, Takashi Inuzuka, Isao Hozumi
• Journal: Biological trace element research (Biol Trace Elem Res) Vol. 151 Issue 1 Pg. 9-13 (Jan 2013) ISSN: 1559-0720 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 23090713 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Trace Elements
• Copper
• Nickel
• Mercury
• Selenium

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Basal Ganglia Diseases (metabolism)
• Calcinosis (metabolism)
• Copper (analysis, metabolism)
• Female
• Hair (chemistry)
• Humans
• Logistic Models
• Male
• Mass Spectrometry (methods)
• Mercury (analysis, metabolism)
• Middle Aged
• Multivariate Analysis
• Neurodegenerative Diseases (metabolism)
• Nickel (analysis, metabolism)
• Risk Factors
• Selenium (analysis, metabolism)
• Trace Elements (analysis, metabolism)