Manganese, copper, and zinc concentrations in serum and packed blood cells during acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, and posthepatitic cirrhosis.

Manganese, copper, and zinc concentrations were determined in serum and packed blood cells of normal controls, patients with acute and chronic (persistent or aggressive) hepatitis, and cases of postnecrotic cirrhosis. During the active phase of acute hepatitis, serum manganese concentrations are invariably increased; the difterence between the mean value and the normal is highly significant, P< 0.001. The mean serum copper is also significantly increased (P < 0.01). The concentrations become normal during the subsiding phase. In chronic aggressive hepatitis and posthepatitic cirrhosis, the mean serum manganese concentration is increased, P < 0.001, whereas the serum zinc concentration is frequently decreased. There is a highly signif icant (P < 0.001) positive correlation between serum manganese concentration and the activity in serum of aminotransferases, in subjects with acute or chronic hepatitis or postnecrotic cirrhosis.