Copper biological role

Biological Roles of Copper, no. 79, Ciba Foundation Symposium, Excerpta Medica and Elsevier-North Hodand, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1980,... 

Metallic copper and silver both have antibacterial properties and Au thiol complexes have found increasing use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, but only copper of this group has a biological role in sustaining life. It is widely distributed in the plant and animal worlds, and its redox chemistry is involved in a variety of... 

Biological Roles of Copper, CIBA Foundation Symposium 79 Excerpta Medica New York, 1980. 

Cass, A. E, G., Hill, H. A. O. Copper proteins and copper enzymes. In Biological Roles of Copper, Ciba Foundation Symposium 79, Amsterdam-Oxford-New York, Excerpta Medica, 1981, in press... 

During the past 10-15 years a great deal of effort has been put into characterizing the biological role of copper using the combined or separate techniques of biology/biochemistry and of coordination chemistry (Section 53.4.8.1). 30,1186-1196 Parallel to this has been an equally extensive effort to prepare and characterize a wealth of coordination complexes of the copper(Il) ion in an attempt to model the physical and chemical behaviour of the biological copper system (Section 53.4.8.2).30,1180 1191 1203 These two approaches are outlined in the next two sections. 

CIBA Foundation Symposium No. 79, Biological Roles for Copper, Excerpta Medica Amsterdam, 1980. 

Copper proteins can fill quite different biological roles. In each case, the function is determined by the three-dimensional structure of the biomolecule as well as by the coordination geometry of the metal site, which in turn determines the electronic structure of the metal ion(s) (Bertini et al., 1993c, 1994a Holm et al., 1996 Solomon et al., 1992). 

Biological Roles of Zinc and Copper. Zinc and copper are essential cofactors at the active site of a number of enzymes. Zinc is a component of more than 200 proteins and enzymes (Table II). Copper, sim-lleT to iron, participates both in redox reactions and as a proton doner (Table III). The normal human adult body contains approximately 50-100 mg of copper and 2.0 g of zinc. The vast majority of tissue copper is found in the liver, kidney, heart and brain. In the blood, copper exists within the red blood cell as superoxide dlsmutase and in the serum as ceruloplasmin. Copper is a component of aerobic metabolism, bone synthesis, and erythrocyte development. Zinc is found primarily in the liver, kidney, bone and prostate. Zinc is essential for normal growth of tissues, wound repair, skin structure, reproduction, taste perception, and the prevention of dwarfism. 

It is safe to predict that there will be major effort in understanding the biological roles of copper-containing amine oxidases and the relationship to flavin-containing amine oxidases. The diversity of amine oxidases in all forms of life and their involvement in key cellular processes in plants and mammals underline the importance of this objective. 

A cofactor can be either an inorganic ion, such as Zn ", or a small organic molecule, called a coenzyme. The requirement of many enzymes for inorganic cofactors is the main reason for our dietary need of trace minerals. Iron, zinc, copper, manganese, and numerous other metal ions are all essential minerals that act as enzyme cofactors, though the exact biological role is not known in all cases. 

E.D. Harris, J.K. Rayton, J.E. Balthrop, R.A. DiSilvestro and M. Garcia-De-Quevedo, in Biological Roles of Copper-Ciba Foundation, (Excerpta Medica, lilsevier. New York, 1980) pp. 163-182. 

Interest in the biological role of copper has greatly increased as the recognition of its role in a number of key physiological processes has developed. These include its importance in elastin and collagen formation which prevent aneurisms, soft bones, and other defects 1,2), the requirement for copper in the taste response (3), and its requirement for cytochrome oxidase and related systems 4). Finally, there is perhaps the best known biological role of copper— its involvement in hemoglobin formation (5, 6, 7). I propose to deal exclusively with the latter, the role... 

Hassan, H. M. Superoxide Dismutases, in Ciba Foundation Symposium 79, Biological Roles of Copper, pp. 125, Amsterdam, Excerpta Medical 1980... 

E. Frieden, in CIBA Foundation Symposium 79 Biological Role of Copper, Exerpta Medica, Amsterdam, 1980, p. 

The periodic table shown highlights the essential elements in the human body. Of special interest are the trace elements, such as iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iodine (I), cobalt (Co), selenium (Se), and fluorine (F), which together make up about 0.1 percent of the body s mass. Although the trace elements are present in very small amounts, they are crucial for our health. In many cases, however, their exact biological role is still not fully understood. 

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