title: Comparative study of biliary trace elements and clinical phenotypes in Wilson's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To further explore the etiological mechanism of Wilson's disease (WD) by comparing the changes of biliary trace elements and its clinical phenotype.
  
  
  METHODS
  WD patients with different types and conditions (n = 20), non-WD patients with chronic liver damage (n = 22), and healthy volunteers (n = 10; used as controls) were studied. Biliary samples were taken by duodenal drainage. Atom absorption spectrophotometer was used to assay the copper and zinc content of each sample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In WD, the copper content and copper/zinc ratio of biliary juice were evidently lower than those of non-WD patients with chronic liver damage and of healthy controls (F = 14.76, 25.4; 14.92, 26.2 respectively; P < 0.01), while the biliary zinc level had no significant difference from the two non-WD control groups (P > 0.05). There were significant differences in biliary copper excretion among patients with different types and conditions (F = 3.75, P < 0.05; F = 6.20, P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Copper excretion by liver and the biliary system decreases obviously in WD, which plays a key role in the phenotypic copper retention, and the biliary copper retention is closely related with the severity of hepatic injury and illness.
authors.affiliation: Ming-Shan Ren, Ren-Min Yang, Yong-Zhu Han, Institute of Neurology, Teaching Hospital, Anhui College of TCM, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Ming-Shan Ren, Ren-Min Yang, Yong-Zhu Han, Institute of Neurology, Teaching Hospital, Anhui College of TCM, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China.
authors.forename: Y X
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Ming-Shan Ren, Ren-Min Yang, Yong-Zhu Han, Institute of Neurology, Teaching Hospital, Anhui College of TCM, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Ming-Shan Ren, Ren-Min Yang, Yong-Zhu Han, Institute of Neurology, Teaching Hospital, Anhui College of TCM, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China.
authors.forename: Y Z
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Ming-Shan Ren, Ren-Min Yang, Yong-Zhu Han, Institute of Neurology, Teaching Hospital, Anhui College of TCM, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Ming-Shan Ren, Ren-Min Yang, Yong-Zhu Han, Institute of Neurology, Teaching Hospital, Anhui College of TCM, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China.
authors.forename: Y R
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: Ming-Shan Ren, Ren-Min Yang, Yong-Zhu Han, Institute of Neurology, Teaching Hospital, Anhui College of TCM, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: Bile; Copper; Duodenal drainage; Wilson’s disease; Zinc