Study on Intracellular Zinc Uptake According to Zinc-ligand

Zinc plays indispensable roles in metabolism, including cell growth, apoptosis, proliferation and differentiation. Kidneys are target organs for various regulators of mineral metabolism, and play a key role in zinc balance. To investigate the zinc uptake efficiency, we examined the zinc uptake and accumulation level in vivo and in vitro study. Plasma zinc concentration was peaked out at 1 hr after oral zinc administration. The renal zinc level was peaked out at 12 hr after oral zinc administration, and it was the highest in 40 mg/kg Zn-Asp administrated group in comparison with other groups. In addition, the m-RNA expression level of zinc transporter-1 (ZnT-1), zinc transporter-2 (ZnT-2) and high-affinity L-aspartate transporter (EAAT-3) in Zn-Asp administered group were increased compared with control groups and $ZnSO_4$ group. In order to investigate the intracellular zinc uptake mechanism, we performed the in vitro study by using human embryonic kidney cell line, HEK 293. Intracellular zinc level was peaked out at 3 hr after zinc treatment. In the same way, the mRNA expression level of ZnT-1 and EAAT-3 were increased compared with control group. This study showed that Zn-Asp is effective the zinc uptake into the kidney by increasing the zinc transporter expression.