Zinc in lymphocytes--the assessment of zinc status in patients with Crohn's disease.

A group of 26 Crohn's disease patients was compared to a healthy control group with regard to their zinc status in plasma, urine, hair, and lymphocytes. A method for lymphocyte preparation, which was in part newly designed, was used; it proved to be very effective as to recovery and purity of the harvested cell fraction. Results of the study suggest that an accurate estimation of zinc status can be more reliably obtained by determination of lymphocyte zinc--provided the cell preparation described is used--than by using any other of the examined body compartments.