Over-expression of Zip-13 mRNA in kidney and lung during dietary zinc deficiency in Wistar rats.

Zinc is an essential nutrient for all organisms, which is involved in the function of numerous key enzymes in metabolism. Two gene families have been identified involved in zinc homeostasis. ZnT transporters reduce intracellular zinc while Zip transporters increase intracellular zinc. Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that Zip-1, ZnT-1, Zip-2 and LIV-1 mRNA are associated with zinc level in established human breast cancer in nude mice model. In this study, six zinc transporters: ZnT-1, ZnT-2, ZnT-4, Zip-1, Zip-8 and Zip-13 were chosen. We aim to determine the relation between zinc transporters and zinc level in kidney and lung of Wistar rats. Eighteen Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: normal group, zinc-deficiency group and pair-fed group. After 22 days, the rats were killed and organs samples were taken, then zinc transporters mRNA were detected by RT-PCR. Compared with the normal group, Zip-13 shows an up-regulation (P < 0.05) in zinc-deficiency group both in kidney and lung, and Zip-8 was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in zinc-deficiency group in kidney.