Zinc
Résumé
Book cover
Trace Elements and Minerals in Health and Longevity pp 99–131Cite as
Zinc
John H. Beattie, Marco Malavolta & Irina Korichneva
Chapter
First Online: 14 November 2018
584 Accesses
2 Citations
Part of the Healthy Ageing and Longevity book series (HAL,volume 8)
Abstract
Zinc has a critical role in biology due principally to its chemical affinity for cellular thiol, imidazole and carboxyl ligands. The regulation of zinc homeostasis is critically dependent on zinc transporters and channels since free zinc or zinc associated with biomolecules is not membrane permeable. While zinc homeostasis may be maintained at different levels of dietary zinc intake, zinc status may vary with zinc intake. This chapter gives a detailed description of the current knowledge concerning the relationship between zinc homeostasis, aging and health. How age-related changes affect zinc intake, metabolism, excretion and homeostasis is described with a particular focus on the alterations of mechanisms controlling the function of zinc transporters and other proteins involved in zinc homeostasis. Evidence for the involvement of zinc dyshomeostasis in immunosenescence, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and frailty is also extensively reviewed. The impact of zinc supplementation in health and diseases is approached considering data from model organisms to humans as well as the tight relationship of zinc with the insulin and insulin growth factor (IIS) pathway, which has a well-defined antagonistic pleiotropic function in aging. This chapter aims to help promote future research into the efficacy of zinc for prevention of age-related diseases and for therapeutic supplementation.