Content of some elements in plants, animal and human organisms, mg/kg

Element	Plants	Animals	Human organism
Hydrogen
Lithium	0,098	0,021
Boron	50,9	0,506	0,28
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen			0,61
Fluorine	0,49-40	150-499,7	37,13
Sodium
Magnesium
Aluminum		3,9-96,2	0,87
Silicon	196-5012	112-5992
Phosphorous		16988-45440
Sulfur
Chlorine	2023,5	2804,5	1,35*10^3
Potassium			1,9*10^3
Calcium		200-8500
Titanium	0,96	0,192
Vanadium	1,53	0,153
Chromium	0,228	0,073	9,4*10^-2
Manganese	629,7	0,22	0,17
Iron		162,4	59,9
Cobalt	0,472	0,0295	21,4*10^-3
Nickel	43,2	0,82	0,14
Copper		2,54	1,03
Zinc	99,4		32,8
Gallium	0,056	0,0055
Rubidium	19,5		9,7
Strontium	26,4	14,08	4,5
Zirconium	0,64	0,27
Barium	13,7	0,685	0,31
Lead	2,7	2,07	1,7
Uranium			1,28*10^-3

Actually, the first four elements could form the whole row of organic molecules such as elementary hydrocarbons, aldehydes, spirits and a number of amino acids. Academician А.I. Oparin showed this in his model experiments simulating the natural conditions, assumingly existed about 3 bill. years ago. The same elements are the frame of any organic molecule.

To the four elements mentioned, above undoubtedly predominated in the ancient atmosphere and hydrosphere, and surely included in before-cellular forms of life it necessary to add two more – phosphorous and sulfur.

Indeed, life is impossible to imagine without two things – transmission of hereditary information and energy. Phosphorous forms the basis of hereditary molecules – DNA and RNA as well as a molecule generating energy – АТP. A commonly accepted F. Engels’s definition: "Life as a way of existence of protein bodies..." – is not correct in its sense as some "living" viruses do without protein presenting only a chain of DNA or RNA capable of autonomous existence.

As for sulfur this element forms the composition of two out of 20 basic amino acids – methionine and cysteine, units constituting proteins of all higher organisms, in this case the composition includes sulfur forming disulfide bridges produces tertiary, globular protein structure.

Both phosphorous and sulfur are products of volcanic emissions. Among the elements of similar origin they are one of the lightest and capable of reactions. Their concentration in ancient ocean, apparently, reached the level necessary for the primary life forms early enough (in evolutionary sense.

All the elements considered above have in common the fact that they are abundant in all cells, organs, and tissues of both plant and animal organisms due to the properties mentioned above, i.e. they are evolutionarily "through", though the latter two occupy a comparatively small place with respect to weight as compared to the former four.

In the process of complication of living organisms their functions extended and specialized. For instance, with formation of skeleton the latter two elements were found in composition of bone structure, but with formation of blood system – in composition of sulfate and phosphate buffers of blood.

Those six elements, from the standpoint of biogenic classification, should be referred to the elements of the first group or the primary elements.

Cellular level of life and macroelements

Combination of six elements considered above could support before-cellular life level. Monocellular organisms are assumed to appear on the Earth in the littoral zones of the ancient ocean about 3 bill. years ago. Their appearance was the beginning of development of the first internal mineral homeostasis system: living matter gained the possibility to border from the external environment by means of developed cellular membrane, having its inner self being. For this purpose the development of buffer system was required that could be provided by cations, the concentration of which reached the optimum in the process of leaching at the earlier stages of mineral hydrosphere evolution – potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium, as well as anions of volcanic activity in addition to already used phosphorous and sulfur – chlorine.

The following aspect should be paid special attention. Most researchers dealing with chemistry of human body compare its mineral composition with that of contemporary land, whereas 90% of living organism evolution took place in the Ocean. In Table 3 the mineral composition of contemporary Ocean with mineral composition of some animal’s blood is compared. The Table presents the data obtained by different scientists. Apparently, on the basis of these data one can judge about the formation process of sodium-potassium pumping system in living cells.

Table 3

Concentration of cations in marine water and organisms liquids of some mammals and birds, mg/kg (Bgatov А.V., 1999, with recalculations of Ignatova Т.N., 2009)

Object	Tissue	Element concentration
Na	K	Ca	Mg	Relationship Na:K
Marine water					27,1:1
Human being	Serum				52,8	16,8:1
Rat	Plasma		206,7		38,4	16,3:1
Dog	Serum	3461,5	206,7		88,8	16,7:1
Elk	Serum	3284,4	187,2		14,4	17,5:1
Hen	Serum				55,2	15,1:1

Judging from the facts, if one takes into account the chemical properties of the elements, in the ancient Ocean concentration of potassium was higher than that of sodium at the initial stages of leaching. Then, however, this relationship changed into opposite one. The cells protecting their internal homeostasis "produced" enzyme pumping inside potassium cations and emitted into outside sodium cations – sodium-potassium АТP. Let us pay attention to the fact (Table 3) that in serum of animal blood the proportion of sodium and potassium is stable enough and is approximately 15,1-17,5:1. In modern Ocean this relationship equals approximately 27,1:1.

Hence, one can conclude that the relationship 15,1-17,5:1 was in the Ocean at the moment of poly-cellular life form apperence.

The second conclusion is concerned with the reason for appearance of salt-eating phenomenon (consumption of sodium chlorine). The fact is that at the moment of heterotrophic cell divergence into plant and animal the plant cells transformed sodium-potassium pump into hydrogen one. That is to say, sodium-potassium system providing conductivity of cell membrane was changed into hydrogen-potassium system. As a result (Table 1, where the data on content of these two elements in plants and animals are presented) the relationship of potassium and sodium is equal to 1:1 in animal organisms and 7:1 in plant organisms. That is why the most determined salt-eaters are herbivorous (cow, sheep, elk, deer), mild salt-eaters are pantophagous animals, consuming both plant and animal food (bears, pigs, monkeys, humans), but predators do not eat salt as they get these two elements in optimal proportion (approximately 1:1) from victim body.

Another example of evolutionary shift in chemical elements might be replacement of silicon into calcium. One can observe the change of silicon into calcium by several examples. As it is known, the most evolutionary ancient sponges (most primitive of the contemporary organisms) have silicon skeleton, more developed – silicon-calcium, but the most evolutionary developed – calcium.

Another example is from more historically ancient times. The most ancient fish – chondrichthyean and ganoid (in translation of modern language – sharks, guitarfish, and sturgeon). They are evolutionarily older, but their skeleton structures are enriched with silicon. More evolutionarily developed fish have – bony structure – calcium as the basis of skeleton.

At last, about man. The Hekkel biogenetic law has stated that ontogenesis is a short repetition of phylogeny (Reimes, 1994). That is to say, each living organism repeats all evolutionary changes of its ancestors in changes if its features. The highest concentration of silicon occurs in the human embryos; by the moment of birth it has gradually decreased (Bgatov А.V., 1999). From the birth to the old age the relationship of silicon and calcium is changing in favor of calcium in all tissues of human organism, conjunctive ones in particular.

Thus, under the common name "macroelements" one could group six elements involved – potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, chlorine, silicon. They make up the second group (Table 4).

Microelements: evolutionary aspect

Microelements as such are the most complex and heterogenic class of elements. Their number itself, as it follows from the described above Lenindger’s, Aggett’s, Avtsyn’s, Anke’s and other authors’ classification has not still been determined. There is a curious statement of J. Glass (1990): "...Sometimes Mother-Nature sells short us for some reasons. There is a deficit of some mineral substances in this or that region... In some areas of Australia there is not enough cobalt in soil. As a result cows and sheep eating pasture fall ill with anemia and die if the deficit is not filled up. In soil of some areas of Tanzania the deficit of boron was revealed, if boron was not be added to soil, the apple trees would fall ill in those sites...". This is a typical example of "reversed logics", however widely spread. Neither cows nor sheep in Australia, nor apple trees in Tanzania are indigenous species. The nature does not deceive anybody: local Australian and African species have adapted to the geochemical environment with low concentrations of cobalt and boron over many generations. Another way is with species delivered, the mineral homeostasis of which has been built up in geochemical provinces rich in these elements.

But the necessity to know exact element composition of human organism is a key problem requiring urgent solution, since without those data one cannot talk about the disbalance in any element.

Thus, to point out reliably the essential microelements for highly developed animals and, first of all, for human being, it is necessary to pay attention to those cases when deficit of one or another element in organism determines for sure some pathological disfunction in organism. It is this approach that is the most efficient suggested by E. Underwood, and with its help the microelement etiology of a number of diseases was stated in agricultural animal organisms. This trend was developed using laboratory animals fed in an artificial diets poor or enriched with this or that microelement.

To the essential elements meeting the following condition: both deficit and excess of the given element results in pathological disorders in organism – one can assign iron, copper, zinc, manganese, chromium, selenium, molybdenum, iodine, cobalt, fluorine. These ten elements, biological significance of which in the organism of highly developed animals including the human being has been well established at present are to be united into the third group – essential microelements.

There are a number of microelements that are always present in human organism in microquantities. To this group of biogenic elements are assigned the following: arsenic, boron, bromine, lithium, nickel, vanadium, cadmium, lead. From the geologic standpoint most of them are of volcanic origin. They appeared at the relatively late stages of the earth’s development, and one can suppose that they were involved into organism metabolism comparatively late from the evolutionary point of view. They can be united in the fourth group under the common name "conditionally essential microelements".

Brain-elements

In recent time in literature the group of elements with unknown functions has been distinguished. With some care one can speak about their connection with human intellectual abilities (Bgatov А.V., 1999).

First of all, special attention is drawn to their relatively high concentration in human brains, an organ that is one of the most protectable in the organism. Thus, one cannot explain the relatively high concentration of gold in brains (0,00568 g/kg of dry mass), thallium (0,00546 g/kg, whereas in other organs – not more than 0,0044 g/kg), tin (0,03584 g/kg, that is an order higher than its content in other organs) and some other elements (Bgatov А.V, 1999). The data obtained by a number of scientists demonstrate the fact that hair chemical composition of people drastically different from each other in intelligent potential is markedly different in content of some microelements. In particular, studying the children of one of Novosibirsk regions with general diagnosis "mental retardation", it was established that ill children had significantly high concentration of manganese, vanadium, and nickel in hair and low concentration of gallium (Bgatov А.V., 1999). Geochemical zone of all children living is the same, so the mistake is to be excluded.

A number of researchers unite all these elements are united in the fifth group under the common name "brain-elements".

Elements neutral and aggressive

There are elements that are poisonous in relatively high quantity, but in low concentrations have a positive effect. E.g., arsenic is a strong poison destructing cardio-vascular system and injuring kidneys and liver, in low doses it is useful and doctors prescribe it to increase the appetite. Oxygen necessary for breathing, but in high concentration (especially under pressure) it acts as a poison. So, it is obvious that all elements are toxic.

Paracelsus, the real name is Fillip Theofast Bombst von Hogenheim, 1493-1541, stated that all substances are poisonous and there is nothing but poison, but everything depends on the dose that makes a substance poison or medicine. These words have pointed out that any macro or microelements can become poison when it is too much, hence, there is no toxic or poisonous elements, but there are their toxic concentrations.

These examples demonstrate that the element concentration in organism plays an important, but sometimes dramatic role.

In fact, excess of chemical element (whether it be sulfur, iron, zinc or gold) in human organism results in pathology. This fact is related to the elements of all groups, even primary elements. The notorious hydrocyanic acid has the formulae HCN, i.е. presents a combination of three organogens. Hence, one could speak only about toxic concentration or toxic compounds of one or another element.

Evidently, all abiogenic elements can be divided into three groups independently on evolutionary processes. The first of them includes the so called elements-neutrals like aluminum, titanium, and rubidium, relatively high concentration of which are negligible enough for the organisms. It is logical to assume that they develop tolerance within hundreds of million of years since as early as at the first evolutionary stages of the organic world the organisms faced their high concentrations in the environment (the ancient Ocean shelf and the lithosphere were rich in these elements.

A different matter is evolutionarily "younger" elements mostly of volcanic origin, appeared as technogenic ones in recent years as well, to which first of all heavy metals are assigned, such as mercury, bismuth, osmium etc, to the high environmental concentrations of which the organisms could not adopt during the life of several generations. Such elements can be assigned to the second group of abiogenic elements, defining them as aggressive ones.

Finally, there is the third subgroup of elements from abiogenic class. They are so called elements-competitors – barium, strontium etc. They were widely presented in the ancient Ocean forming the skeleton frame of some life forms that is preserved up to nowadays in some relic species. But after organisms’ coming out to the land and replacing these elements into lighter and more capable of reacting calcium, they began to compete with it for participation in organism metabolism. Here from there is the Urov’s disease leading to bone fragility and underdevelopment of skeleton (replacement of calcium into strontium in human skeleton) in some endemic regions of Siberia and, presumably, development of some mineral formations in human organism like urolithiasis and atherosclerosis.

Hence, all the rest, abiogenic elements can be divided into three groups: aggressive, neutral and elements-competitors.

Table 4

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