Ng Jack C, Wang Jian Ping, Zheng Baoshan, Zhai Cheng, Maddalena Robyn, Liu Faye, Moore Michael R
Faculty of Health Sciences, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology, The University of Queensland, 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plains, Brisbane, QLD 4108, Australia.
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2005 Aug 7;206(2):176-84. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2004.09.021.
Coal is widely used in PR China. Unfortunately, coal from some areas in Guizhou Province contains elevated levels of arsenic. This has caused arsenicosis in individuals who use arsenic-contaminated coal for the purposes of heating, cooking and drying of food in poorly ventilated dwellings. The population at risk has been estimated to be approximately 200,000 people. Clinical symptoms of arsenicosis may include changes of skin pigmentation, hyperkeratosis of hand and feet, skin cancers, liver damage, persistent cough and chronic bronchitis. We analyzed the porphyrin excretion profile using a HPLC method in urine samples collected from 113 villagers who lived in Xing Ren district, a coal-borne arsenicosis endemic area and from 30 villagers from Xing Yi where arsenicosis is not prevalent. Urinary porphyrins were higher in the arsenic exposed group than those in the control group. The correlation between urinary arsenic and porphyrin concentrations demonstrated the effect of arsenic on heme biosynthesis resulting in increased porphyrin excretion. Both uroporphyrin and coproporphyrin III showed significant increases in the excretion profile of the younger age (<20 years) arsenic-exposed group, suggesting that porphyrins could be used as early warning biomarkers of chronic arsenic exposure in humans. Greater increases of urinary arsenic and porphyrins in women, children and older age groups who spend much of their time indoors suggest that they might be at a higher risk. Whether elevated porphyrins could predict adverse health effects associated with both cancer and non-cancer end-points in chronically arsenic-exposed populations need further investigation.
在中国，煤炭被广泛使用。不幸的是，贵州省某些地区的煤炭含砷量较高。这导致一些人因在通风不良的住所中使用受砷污染的煤炭取暖、做饭和烘干食物而患上砷中毒。据估计，高危人群约有20万人。砷中毒的临床症状可能包括皮肤色素沉着变化、手脚角化过度、皮肤癌、肝损伤、持续咳嗽和慢性支气管炎。我们采用高效液相色谱法分析了从兴仁地区（一个燃煤型砷中毒流行区）的113名村民以及砷中毒不流行的兴义地区的30名村民采集的尿液样本中的卟啉排泄情况。砷暴露组的尿卟啉水平高于对照组。尿砷与卟啉浓度之间的相关性表明砷对血红素生物合成有影响，导致卟啉排泄增加。尿卟啉和粪卟啉III在年龄较小（<20岁）的砷暴露组排泄情况中均显著增加，这表明卟啉可作为人类慢性砷暴露的早期预警生物标志物。在大部分时间待在室内的女性、儿童和老年人群中，尿砷和卟啉的增加幅度更大，这表明他们可能面临更高的风险。尿卟啉升高是否能预测长期砷暴露人群中与癌症和非癌症终点相关的不良健康影响，还需要进一步研究。
