INTESTINAL ENDOGENOUS ZINC: ROLE FOR METALLOTHIONEIN

该子项目是利用NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为中心，不一定是研究者所在机构。锌（Zn）缺乏症已在全球范围内得到充分证明，锌缺乏症对健康的不利影响也是如此。锌在体内有许多重要的功能，但关于锌的确切使用方式仍有很多东西有待了解。健康个体通过调节锌从食物吸收到肠道中以及通过控制锌释放回到肠道中以在粪便中排泄来平衡其体内的锌量。大多数研究都集中在肠道对锌的吸收上。这项研究将更好地描述锌分泌到肠道的生理学特征和影响因素。对身体通常达到适当锌平衡的方式的更好理解可能有助于最终治疗和/或预防锌缺乏症。这项研究将调查是否有一种蛋白质，金属硫蛋白，控制锌分泌到肠道。基于动物实验数据和我们自己的初步数据，我们假设从胰腺到小肠的分泌物中金属硫蛋白的量与这些分泌物中锌的量直接相关。本研究还将评估当从食物中吸收的锌量变化时以及当体内锌负荷变化时，胰腺分泌物中金属硫蛋白的量是否变化。将从丹佛市区招募20-50岁的健康成年人。我们将研究10名受试者的饮食与锌水平类似于他们的日常饮食。然后将受试者随机分配至锌限制或补充饮食。在受试者开始指定饮食之前和之后，受试者将在GCRC中度过2天，在GCRC中，将一根小管插入每例受试者的口中，并沿着他/她的喉咙进入他/她的肠道。这个管子将被用来吸出分泌物，然后我们将进行分析。所有受试者还将在研究的不同日期接受一些特殊形式的锌。这些将帮助我们测量收集的分泌物中的锌含量。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Zinc (Zn) deficiency has been amply demonstrated on a global basis, as have the adverse implications of Zn deficiency on health. Zn has many important functions in the body, and yet much remains to be learned about exactly how Zn is used. Healthy individuals balance the amount of Zn in their bodies by regulating absorption of Zn from food into the gut and by controlling the release of zinc back into the intestine for excretion in feces. Most research has focused on zinc absorption by the gut. This study will better characterize the physiology of and factors affecting zinc secretion into the intestine. An improved understanding of the ways in which the body usually achieves proper zinc balance may help to ultimately treat and/or prevent Zn deficiency. This study will investigate if a protein, metallothionein, controls Zn secretion into the intestine. Based on experimental data from animal studies and our own preliminary data, we hypothesize that the amount of metallothionein in secretions from the pancreas into the small intestine is directly related to the amount of Zn in these secretions. This study will also evaluate whether the amount of metallothionein in secretions from the pancreas changes when the amount of zinc absorbed from food changes and when the Zn load in the body changes. Healthy adults aged 20-50 will be recruited from the Denver metro area. We will study 10 subjects on a diet with Zn levels similar to their usual diets. Subjects will then be randomly assigned to a Zn restricted or supplemented diet. Before and after they begin their assigned diet, subjects will spend 2 days in the GCRC, where a small tube will be inserted into each subject's mouth and advanced down his/her throat to his/her intestine. This tube will be used to suck out secretions that we will then analyze. All subjects will also receive some special forms of Zn on different days in the study. These will help us to measure Zn amounts in the secretions collecte