Manganese levels in serum of healthy Venezuelan infants living in Merida

Taking up where a previous paper had left off (10) the purpose of this study was to examine in further detail the serum concentration of manganese of 180 apparently healthy Venezuelan infants (96 boys and 84 girls) ranging from 5 days to 12 months old, all residents of Merida. The flow injection analysis-atomic absorption spectrophotometric technique was used for the determination of manganese. The mean values of serum manganese were 0.42+/-0.12, 0.41+/-0.11, 0.39+/-0.13, 0.39+/-.1, 0.38+/-0.09. 0.37+/-0.11, 0.36+/-0.12 and 0.29+/-0.10 mu g/L in infants 5 days and 1,3,5,7,10,11 and 12 months old, respectively. These values indicate that the average concentration of manganese in serum decreases with age, but the mechanism involved is not yet known, nor are the consequences of the decrease. The statistical analysis did not show any significant influence of sex on the serum value of the metal in the age range of 5 days to 12 months.