Abstract
Castrated female rats were subcutaneously injected with 17β-estradiol (100μg/rat/day). After 2 weeks of the treatment, various tissues were excised for minerals (Zn, Fe, Cu, Mg, Na, K and Ca) and metalloenzymes (alkaline phosphatase and tryptophan pyrrolase) assays. Estrogen reduced the rate of the weight gain and resulted in increments of liver and uterus weights. A significant increase in contents of most of minerals in liver and uterus was the most striking finding in the treated, compared to the control, animals. Despite the result that estrogen depressed the Zn levels in brain, liver and kidney, the activity of alkaline phosphatase, a metalloenzyme containing Zn, of brain was not affected, while that of liver and kidney was increased with estrogen. Although the reduction of Fe concentration of liver was observed, the activity of tryptophan pyrrolase, one of Fecontaining metalloenzyme, of that tissue was not affected by the chronic treatment of 100μg estradiol. From the results of this investigation, there seems to be no direct relationship between the changes in Zn and Fe levels and their metalloenzyme activities with estrogen treatment.
