Influence of myocardial infarction on serum manganese, copper, and zinc concentrations.

Reportedly, serum manganese concentrations increase after myocardial infarction, closely correlated with increased serum aspartate aminotransferase activity. However, these conclusions are apparently based on analyses of contaminated samples. Serum manganese concentrations after myocardial infarction have been re-investigated by neutron activation analysis, and no significant increase could be demonstrated. Because serum copper and zinc could be determined simultaneously, analyses for these trace elements are also reported, which confirm the findings of others. After myocardial infarction a statistically significant (0.02 smaller than P smaller than 0.05) increase in serum copper and a statistically significant (0.001 smaller than P smaller than 0.01) decrease in serum zinc were observed.