Every plant and animal organism contains all known chemical elements and their isotopes. They are an integral part of the fluids, tissues and bones of the human body. The use of micronutrients increases the therapeutic properties of vitamins and allows to reduce their doses. The chemical elements (9 species)-carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, silver, and iron-make up about 99% of the living weight of plants, humans, and animals and are called macronutrients. The other chemical elements make up 1-2% by weight. Chemical elements such as cobalt, iodine, manganese, zinc, organic copper, boron, molybdenum, arsenic, etc.contained in the body in thousandths and hundredths of a percent are called trace elements. Elements whose content in the body is measured in millionths and billionths of a percent are called ultramicroelements. The latter include radium, uranium, thorium, lanthanum, samarium, etc. Micronutrients and ultramicronutrients are included in the body in negligible amounts, but they are a necessary part of the body and their physiological role is equal to that of macronutrients.
All trace elements are required in very small, so-called biotic, doses for normal body activity and metabolism.
If micronutrients are supplied in excessive amounts, it can cause certain pathological changes in the body, in some cases life-threatening. Thus, insufficient fluoride content in drinking water (less than 0.5 mg/l) contributes to dental caries, with excess fluoride in drinking water (above 1.2 mg/l) is formed mottling of tooth enamel and destruction of teeth. Lack of cobalt in the diet leads to the development of anemia, and high doses of it are toxic and cause poisoning.
Several researchers have noted that micronutrients or their complexes found in natural plant substances usually do not cause adverse toxic effects even when in excess.
Human tissues and organs sometimes accumulate trace elements in large doses: for example, cadmium accumulates in the kidneys, zinc, nickel - in the pancreas, lithium, heavy metals are mainly concentrated in the blood formed elements, while aluminum and silicon are mainly in the blood plasma, in serum of the protein fractions of the most rich in trace elements gamma-globulin. When studying the glands of internal secretion, cobalt was found predominantly in the pituitary gland, bismuth - in the pancreas and thyroid glands. Departments of the brain, different in their morphological structure and physiological functions, also concentrate different amounts of trace elements (copper, manganese, silicon, titanium, aluminum, etc.).). Molybdenum has been found in some parts of the gray matter of the cortex, chromium is selectively concentrated in the caudate body, and the optic tubercle is rich in vanadium and titanium. Bismuth, on the other hand, is only found in the red core.
Micronutrients contained in the body and their concentration in certain organs and tissues is not random, but is related to their biological role in the processes of vital activity of the body.
The nuclei of nerve cells of the cerebral cortex contain a large number of trace elements, some of them are evenly distributed in the brain, while others, as mentioned above, are selectively concentrated in different parts of the cortex and subcortical nodes, with their amount and biochemical character of compounds undergoing age-related changes.
Generally, radioactive elements are concentrated in certain organs. For example, the human brain contains more radium than other organs, and in plants they accumulate in the root system.
Among the ultramicroelements, all organisms include naturally occurring radioactive elements.
Experimental evidence shows their positive effects on the human body in small amounts. In their deficiency, their metabolism is disturbed, the vitality of individual organs, cells and tissues decreases. Diseases resulting from this can only be treated by introducing missing amounts of radioelements into the body. External exposure to radioactive radiation is ineffective in such diseases. The question of what physiologic effects natural radioelements have has not yet been resolved (A. А. Dobryakov, 1963).
Any chemical elements fulfill a specific physiological role, and individual elements do not replace each other. Chemical elements are part of and participate in the formation of vitamins, enzymes, hormones and other substances that regulate biochemical processes. Thus, all metabolic processes in the body, including intracellular, are performed with the mandatory participation of certain chemical elements. For example, manganese is essential for the formation of vitamin C and cobalt is essential for vitamin Bi2. You need zinc, organic copper, molybdenum, chromium, and cobalt to build enzymes. Cobalt is part of the pancreatic hormone insulin, which regulates carbohydrate metabolism in the body; organic copper stimulates the production of pituitary hormones; iodine is a structural component of thyroid hormone; zinc is a component of pancreatic hormone.
Organic copper takes an active part in metabolism, in the processes of tissue respiration and especially in the processes of blood formation together with iron, cobalt, manganese.
When studying the dynamics of some trace elements (organic copper, manganese, aluminum, silicon, titanium, etc.).) in isolated nuclei of nerve cells, in the brain under states of excitation and inhibition, it was found that these processes are accompanied by certain shifts in the content of trace elements in the brain. In experiments on white rats it turned out, for example, that as a result of certain convulsive conditions the copper content is significantly reduced. During the processes of excitation and inhibition, changes in the content of trace elements in the blood are detected.
Micronutrients may be of considerable importance in the pathogenesis of some diseases. For example, a certain regularity between the growth of tumors and the content of trace elements in them was revealed, a connection between leukosis and the content of barium in hematopoietic organs was outlined, and during the study of the dense residue of drinking water and urinary stones of patients it was found that the main amount of trace elements contained in the drinking water of a certain area is also found in urinary stones. This fact once again confirms the importance of the water factor as an external environment in the occurrence of urolithiasis. Thus iodine deficiency in the occurrence of endemic goiter in some areas of the country has also been studied.
The biological role of many elements is still unexplored or poorly understood. There is considerable variation in the figures of daily requirement recommended by different authors (I. Г. Prieve, 1964). In this connection, and also taking into account that there is a special and extensive literature on the role of micronutrients in metabolism and other vital processes, the characterization of individual micronutrients is not given in this paper..
