Study of serum ceruloplasmin and of the copper/zinc ratio in cardiovascular diseases.

The serum copper and zinc concentration, the Cu/Zn ratio and ceruloplasmin activity have been studied in 400 subjects divided into 4 groups of study: 50 normal subjects (controls), 100 patients with ischemic heart disease, 100 subjects with myocardial infarction in the past history and 150 patients with acute myocardial infarction. It was observed that in normal subjects the Cu/Zn ratio is about 1, in acute myocardial infarction it reaches 2.5 but it returns to normal during convalescence. In the patients with ischemic heart disease the ratio decreases to 0.8 and in the subjects with infarction in the past history it is about 1.6 (almost normal). The variation of these ratio is due to the serum zinc concentration which in ischemic heart disease presents values over the upper normal limit and in acute myocardial infarction below the lower normal limit. In the subjects with acute infarction ceruloplasmin (copper depending enzyme) the activity was observed to be inversely proportional to the Cu/Zn ratio in the first 4 days after the onset of the disease. The quick normalization of one or of both parameters is a sign of positive evolution of the disease.