monocopper ii citrate complex is considerably lower a thousand to a several hundreds of thousand times lower and a significant free cu concentration is available for anti inflammatory activity for example about 10 of the copper in the complex is in the ionized state at or about ph 7 while approximately 0 1 of the copper is ionized at or about ph 9 thus it is to be understood that the anti inflammatory complexes of this invention are sensitive to ph and as the ph is lowered to or below about 7 copper ion is made more available if tissue is intact i e healthy without trauma then there are few if any free endogenous reacting moieties to induce the dissociation of copper ions if there is trauma caused by inflammation then the copper ions are induced to dissociate and complex with the endogenous reacting moieties associated with such trauma thereby reducing or alleviating the inflammation in general the complexes will then tend to dissociate over a ph range of about 3 to about 12 above about ph 12 the complexes tend to be destroyed by the alkaline media precipitating from the media as hydrous metal oxides below about ph 7 the instability of the metal complex results in high concentrations of the free cu upon demand as explained to effect anti inflammatory activities at the pathological ph of about 7 below the skin the controlled release is most effective the complexes will preferably be dispersed in a vehicle to provide a composition having a ph of about 6 5 to about 9 for passage through the tissue upon typical administration to provide controlled release of the metal.