Resumen de Zinc deficiency – an overview
Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace element and a functional part of manyenzymes and thousands of proteins. The initial clinical symptoms of Zndeficiency are not specific. A long term Zn deficiency in small ruminantsmay show signs of parakeratosis of the skin with thickening and crusts aswell as secondary bacterial infection. However, the laboratory approachto characterize a subclinical stage of Zn deficiency is a challenging task.The Zn concentration in plasma and serum is easy to determine, butthis parameter is diagnostically less conclusive. The most promisingtool seems to be the ‘diagnostic therapy’ including a period of high Znsupplementation and follow up of a clinical recovery. This overview willsummarize the current knowledge on Zn metabolism and diagnostictools available for small ruminants.
