Selected zinc metabolism parameters in women with arterial hypotension.

In the present study, differences between selected zinc parameters in healthy women and arterial hypotension patients were compared. The patients had baseline systolic blood pressure that did not surpass 100 mm Hg. During the orthostatic test, a decrease of over 20 mm Hg was seen and the patients reported dizziness, limpness, and palpitations. The patients had higher levels of lymphocyte zinc than those of the controls and exhibited a positive correlation between serum zinc and the ouabain-dependent zinc efflux from lymphocytes (r = 0.49), and, in turn, this efflux was negatively correlated to the serum aldosterone level (r = -0.35). Except for the differences in their systolic blood pressure and lymphocyte zinc, none of the tested zinc metabolism parameters showed significant differences between the patients and the controls. As in arterial hypertension, the obtained results indicate that zinc plays a significant role in regulation of arterial blood pressure.