Variation in the Levels of Aluminum and Manganese in Scalp Hair Samples of the Patients Having Different Psychiatric Disorders with Related to Healthy Subjects

• Published in: Biological trace element research Vol. 168; no. 1; pp. 67 - 73
• Main Authors: Arain, Mariam S., Afridi, Hassan Imran, Kazi, Tasneem Gul, Kazi, Atif, Naeemullah, Ali, Jamshed, Arain, Salma Aslam, Panhwar, Abdul Haleem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.11.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aluminum; Aluminum - analysis; Atomic absorption spectrophotometry; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Calibration; Hair; Hair - chemistry; Hair analysis; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Life Sciences; Male; Manganese; Manganese - analysis; Manganese compounds; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - metabolism; Middle Aged; Nutrition; Oncology; Prognosis; Reference Standards; Spectral analysis; Spectrophotometry; Spectrophotometry, Atomic; Trace elements; Scalp hair; Different types of psychiatric disorder patients; Atomic absorption spectrophotometer; Aluminum; Manganese
• DOI: 10.1007/s12011-015-0353-0
• ISSN: 0163-4984; 1559-0720

There is very limited information available on the role of trace elements in psychiatric disorders (PSD). Immense pieces of evidence support the idea that exposure to trace and toxic metals, such as aluminum (Al) and manganese (Mn), may be factors or cofactors in the etiopathogenesis of a variety of psychiatric disorders. The aim of our study was to assess the Al and Mn in scalp hair samples of 102 patients having different types of psychiatric disorder PSD diseases together with 120 referent subjects of male patients in the age group of 45–60 years. The understudy elements in scalp hair samples were assessed by the flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry after microwave-assisted acid digestion method .The validity of methodology was checked by the certified human hair reference material (NCS ZC81002). The recovery of studied elements was found in the range of 98.1–99.2 % of certified reference material. The results of this study showed that the mean values of Al and Mn were significantly higher in scalp hair samples of all types of PSD as compared to referents subjects. The resulted data indicated a significant increase in the contents of Mn and Al in scalp hair samples of psychiatric patients than that of its control counterpart, which may provide prognostic tool for the diagnosis of the mental disorders. However, further work is suggested to examine the exact correlation between trace elements level and the degree of disorder.