[The influence of tobacco smoking on the occurrence of copper in hydroxiapatites of gallstones].

The studies were carried out on the changes in copper content in concretions of gallstones which were taken from 146 women (49 smoking and 97 no smoking) and 24 men (11 smoking and 13 no smoking), respectively. The elemental composition of gallstones was determined with ICP-AES method (Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy). Studies on copper occurrence in concretions of gallstones showed the presence of its higher concentrations in case of smoking women (9.59 microg/g) and men (8.99 microg/g) in comparison with no smoking women (7.02 microg/g) and men (7.66 microg/ g). It was shown differences in pattern of changes of copper concentration in gallstones in case of smoking and no smoking women and men.