Human Serum Copper and Ceruloplasmin Levels with Age

Changes op Human Serum Copper and Ceruloplasmin Levels with Age 

Cartwright and Wintrobe (C2) reported significantly higher levels of both serum copper and ceruloplasmin in normal adult females compared to males. Cox et al. (C13) in a somewhat smaller series could not confirm this. In the latter series there was no significant difference between the serum copper and ceruloplasmin content of males and females either in children or in adults. 

The copper content of the tissues and blood of animals is markedly dependent on the dietary intake (U2). This has not yet been reported in man. Premature infants could not be made copper deficient by being put on a diet containing very little copper (W13). This, however, may be explained by the presence of large copper depots in this age group (see Section 5.1). The presence of increased amounts of copper in drinking water derived from copper pipes has been shown not to influence the copper content of the liver in man (M2). 

Administration of estrogens leads to elevation of serum copper and ceruloplasmin in both man and animals (E6, G4, J4, M20, R21, T9). Since there is an increased production of estrogens during pregnancy, it may be 

Administration of testosterone (C14, J4), thyroid hormones (M19), and ACTH (E5) has been shown to result in elevation of serum copper levels. The latter effect could have been due to contamination of the ACTH preparation with melanotropin (A2). Antithyroid drugs produce a fall in serum copper levels (F7). 

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