effect of zinc and vitamin e on blood testosterone and inflammatory markers in male patients undergoing heart surgery

Background: zinc and vitamin e affect the metabolism of testosterone and inflammatory factors. we aimed to evaluate the effect of zinc and vitamin e supplementation on plasma testosterone levels and inflammatory markers in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (cabg) surgery. methods: this study was a secondary analysis of a previously published randomized controlled trial in a subsample of male patients undergoing cabg surgery. patients in the zinc-vitamin e group (n = 27) received oral zinc (120 mg) and vitamin e (1200 international units) one day prior to surgery, followed by 30 mg of zinc and 200 units of vitamin e per day for three weeks after surgery. patients in the control group (n = 25) received a placebo. plasma levels of total testosterone, cortisol, interleukin-6 (il-6), and white blood cell toll-like receptor-4 (tlr-4) gene expression were determined at three-day and three-week intervals following surgery. changes in these markers were analyzed using a repeated-measures analysis of variance. results: a comparison of the groups revealed no significant difference in the concentration of plasma total testosterone levels (p = 0.059) or cortisol. three weeks following the surgical procedure, a positive correlation was observed between the change in plasma zinc concentrations and the change in plasma testosterone levels (r = 0.32; p = 0.025). the administration of zinc and vitamin e supplements resulted in a reduction in plasma il-6 levels on postoperative day 3 (p = 0.025), while no significant effect was observed in week 3 (p = 0.091). the expression of the tlr-4 gene in wbcs was found to be lower in the zinc-vitamin e group compared to the placebo group on day 3 (p = 0.051) and week 3 (p = 0.025). conclusions: the administration of zinc and vitamin e to patients undergoing cabg was associated with a relative improvement in postoperative inflammatory markers. plasma zinc levels demonstrated a correlation with testosterone levels, suggesting a potential avenue for further research in these patients.