title: Zinc and diabetes mellitus: understanding molecular mechanisms and clinical implications.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diabetes mellitus is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Studies have shown that Zinc has numerous beneficial effects in both type-1 and type-2 diabetes. We aim to evaluate the literature on the mechanisms and molecular level effects of Zinc on glycaemic control, β-cell function, pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications.
  
  
  METHODS
  A review of published studies reporting mechanisms of action of Zinc in diabetes was undertaken in PubMed and SciVerse Scopus medical databases using the following search terms in article title, abstract or keywords; ("Zinc" or "Zn") and ("mechanism" or "mechanism of action" or "action" or "effect" or "pathogenesis" or "pathology" or "physiology" or "metabolism") and ("diabetes" or "prediabetes" or "sugar" or "glucose" or "insulin").
  
  
  RESULTS
  The literature search identified the following number of articles in the two databases; PubMed (n = 1799) and SciVerse Scopus (n = 1879). After removing duplicates the total number of articles included in the present review is 111. Our results show that Zinc plays an important role in β-cell function, insulin action, glucose homeostasis and the pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Numerous in-vitro and in-vivo studies have shown that Zinc has beneficial effects in both type-1 and type-2 diabetes. However further randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trials conducted for an adequate duration, are required to establish therapeutic safety in humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka. priyanga.ranasinghe@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Priyanga
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ranasinghe
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: Shehani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pigera
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: Priyadarshani
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Galappatthy
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Research Unit, Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: Prasad
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Katulanda
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Research Unit, Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: Godwin R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Constantine
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects; D015032:Zinc / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D015032:Zinc