Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, University of Oviedo, Avda. Julián Clavería 8, 33006 Oviedo, Spain.
Department of Chemistry, Atomic & Mass Spectrometry - A&MS Research Unit, Ghent University, Campus Sterre, Krijgslaan 281 - S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2020 Jan 5;177:112857. doi: 10.1016/j.jpba.2019.112857. Epub 2019 Sep 7.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the main cause of irreversible blindness in people over 60 years of age, is an eye disease that evolves with loss of central vision. Although AMD manifests itself in the eye, blood is continuously flowing through the macular region, such that potential alterations in this region could be reflected in the composition of whole blood or plasma/serum. Therefore, the potential clinical relevance of analysis of serum samples was assessed because of the low degree of invasiveness of blood sampling. 40 initial samples (20 from controls and 20 from patients with the dry form of AMD) have been analysed in this work to investigate the possible occurrence of homeostatic alterations of essential mineral elements caused by the disease. Both major (Na, Mg, P and K) and trace (Fe, Cu and Zn) essential mineral elements were determined in blood serum using single-collector ICP-mass spectrometry. Also, the isotopic composition of Cu (an element proposed to be directly involved in the onset of AMD) was determined using multi-collector ICP-mass spectrometry. Unexpected light Cu isotopic compositions in three individuals assumed as controls, resulted in a re-evaluation of their clinical information and a later exclusion due to pathologies initially not accounted for. In this pilot study, a significant alteration in the δCu value has been found between the two final cohorts (AMD patients: n = 20; controls n = 17), with lower δCu values (i.e. an enrichment in the light Cu isotope) in the case of AMD. Also, higher serum concentrations of the elements P and Zn were established in AMD at a systemic level.
年龄相关性黄斑变性（AMD）是 60 岁以上人群不可逆性失明的主要原因，是一种以中心视力丧失为特征的眼部疾病。虽然 AMD 表现在眼睛上，但血液不断流经黄斑区域，因此该区域的潜在变化可能反映在全血或血浆/血清的成分中。因此，由于采血的侵入性较低，评估了血清样本分析的潜在临床相关性。在这项工作中，分析了 40 个初始样本（20 个来自对照组，20 个来自干性 AMD 患者），以研究疾病引起的必需矿物质元素稳态变化的可能发生。使用单收集器 ICP-MS 测定了血液血清中的主要（Na、Mg、P 和 K）和痕量（Fe、Cu 和 Zn）必需矿物质元素。此外，还使用多收集器 ICP-MS 测定了 Cu 的同位素组成（一种被认为直接参与 AMD 发病的元素）。在三个被认为是对照的个体中，Cu 的同位素组成出乎意料地轻，这导致对其临床信息进行了重新评估，并由于最初未考虑的病理学而随后排除。在这项初步研究中，两个最终队列（AMD 患者：n=20；对照组 n=17）之间的 δCu 值存在显著变化，AMD 患者的 δCu 值较低（即轻 Cu 同位素富集）。此外，在系统性水平上，还确定了 AMD 患者血清中 P 和 Zn 元素的浓度更高。
