Determination of Serum Levels of Zinc and Boron by ICP-MS method in Experimental Diabetic Rats

Diabetes Mellitus is the commonest major metabolic disease with high mortality and morbidity risk in the

world which is characterized by hyperglycemia induces. Although the mechanism of trace elements on

diabetic patients has been explained as providing the activation of insulin receptor sites, being a cofactor or

component for enzymes in glucose metabolism, and acting as an antioxidant that increases insulin sensitivity,

the effect of each trace element has not yet been fully elucidated.1

Zinc and boron, which have important

roles in glucose and lipid metabolism, respectively, have important roles in the secretion, synthesis, and

storage of insulin. In addition, with the antioxidant properties of both trace elements, it can play an important

role in diabetes caused by oxidative stress.2, 3

The aim of this study was to determine and compare the serum zinc and boron levels in normal and diabetic

rats in order to understand the roles of both zinc and boron in diabetes. Type 1 diabetes was induced in rats

by administration intraperitoneally in a single dose of high dose streptozotocin (STZ) to the overnight fasted

rats. After three days of STZ administration, rats were considered as diabetic rats, if the fasting blood glucose

levels measured by Accu-Chek glucometer >300 mg/dL. Six rats, each with STZ-induced diabetic and control,

were included in the study. Rats were sacrificed under deep anesthesia, and later blood samples were taken

from the heart of rats. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry ICP-MS method, which is very elegant

procedure for evaluation the analysis of multiple elements at the same time, was used in this study to

determine the zinc and boron in serum. For serum sample preparation, nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide

were added to the serum samples and obtained solution were burned by using blood method in Milestone

ETHOS UP High-Performance Microwave Digestion System. After degradation, samples were diluted with

Milli-Q deionized water and analyzed by ICP-MS. The proposed ICP-MS method was validated. With this

purpose, calibration curve obtained by plotting calibration curves between peak areas and added

concentrations to be determine the method linearity. The equations for calibration curves were obtained in

10-500 ng/mL concentration range for both Zinc and Boron.

The method was found as precise with 3.25 RSD%, and accurate with  ± 2.58 RE % for both elements. The

mean recovery % was determined as 101.4±5.46% for boron and 98.2±4.53 % for zinc. The limit of detection

(LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) values found as 2.14 ng/mL and 7.06 ng/mL for boron and 1.55 ng/mL

and 5.11 ng/mL for zinc, respectively. The both serum zinc and boron levels in the STZ-induced diabetic rats

were significantly lower than control rats (P < 0.01).