Abstract

Zinc has been reported to be involved in the synthesis and release of insulin and C-peptide from the beta cells of pancreas. The possibility of a correlation between these parameters needs to be explored, specially with regards diabetes mellitus. We aimed at analysing this relationship in the Indian population by measuring the serum levels of Insulin, C-peptide and zinc in type 2 diabetics. A cross sectional study was undertaken on hundred type 2 diabetic patients in a tertiary hospital (MMIMSR) in North India. Serum C-peptide, insulin were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay and zinc by spectrophotometry. We found that serum C-peptide and insulin levels were raised (2.59 ± 1.45 ng/ml , 11.24 ± 10.57 ?IU/ml respectively) while serum zinc levels were within reference intervals (97.82 ± 11.27 ?g/dl). Zinc levels however showed highly significant negative correlations with serum C-peptide (r=0.649, p<0.001) and insulin (r= -0.423, p< 0.001) levels. We conclude that serum zinc levels are strongly relate to serum insulin and c-peptide levels in patients of type 2 DM and may thus have a role in the pathogenesis and hence treatment of the disease.

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