Copper clearance in a subgroup of patients with chorea.
Rat studies recently have suggested that the corpus striatum appears to be selectively and markedly affected by copper deficiencies beginning in the post-weanling period. A study of copper clearances has revealed that four out of five patients with chorea have depressed clearances between 0.00674 and .00313 (reference range 0.0137-0.0404 cc/min). The patients with depressed copper clearances had psychiatric illness themselves or in first-degree relatives. In the case of one patient, copper supplementation resulted in an abatement of symptoms that reversed on a single-blind crossover.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001264:Athetosis / Q000097:blood; D002570:Ceruloplasmin / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002819:Chorea / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D003300:Copper / Q000097:blood* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D008875:Middle Aged
D003300:Copper; D002570:Ceruloplasmin