Correlation of Serum Lipids and Lipoproteins with Trace Elements in Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

To evaluate the correlations of the serum concentrations of trace elements with lipids and lipoproteins in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), the serum concentrations of cholesterol, triglyceride, total lipids, very low density lipoproteins (VLDL-cholesterol), low density lipoproteins (LDL-cholesterol) and high density lipoproteins (HDL-cholesterol) and their correlations with serum concentrations of copper, zinc, selenium, iron and manganese were measured in 100 clinically healthy water buffaloes. Serum concentration of copper had a significant correlation with HDL-cholesterol (r = 0.467, P < 0.01). Serum total lipids had a significant correlation with iron (r = 0.25, P = 0.019) and the correlation between total lipids and manganese was marginally significant (r = -0.197, P = 0.07). Additionally, separate evaluation of age groups showed that serum cholesterol had a significant correlation with copper (r = 0.643, P = 0.007) in buffaloes up to 2 years of age and with zinc in animals between 2-5 years old (r = -0.382, P = 0.049). Serum selenium had a significant correlation with VLDL- cholesterol (r = 0.345, P = 0.049) in buffaloes more than 5 years old.