ABSTRACT
Dietary copper is an essential trace element required by all living organisms, from bacteria to humans, for continued growth and development. This chapter focuses on diet ingredients and preparation, animal care, and equipment used to perform copper-deficient studies and the modes of dietary copper intake. The most difficult problem in formulating animal diets low in copper undoubtedly lies in the provision of ingredients low in the element. Excess amounts of ascorbic acid reduce copper absorption by decreasing the concentration of soluble copper in the lumen of the small intestine in rats. Mineral mix is a critical element in the copper-deficient and copper-excess diets. Copper interacts with several metals, most notably zinc and iron. Copper interacts with several metals (see above), most notably zinc and iron. It is therefore essential to control the concentration of these metals. Since many commercially available salts contain traces of other metals as impurities, the ingredients should be carefully selected for the preparation of mineral mix.
