Departamento de Farmacología, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Haya de la Torre y Medina Allende, Ciudad Universitaria, Córdoba, Argentina.
Hum Exp Toxicol. 2013 May;32(5):449-63. doi: 10.1177/0960327112454893. Epub 2012 Oct 18.
Lead (Pb) is a developmental neurotoxicant found in industrial activities, many of them already prohibited worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate current blood Pb (PbB) levels in children in Cordoba, Argentina, and to compare these with similar studies performed before Pb was banned in gasoline in 1996. We also sought to identify mechanistically relevant biomarkers by measuring δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (δ-ALAD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activities. We finally aimed to determine whether sociodemographic characteristics are associated with Pb toxicity. Blood samples collected from 161 healthy children between September 2009 and February 2010 revealed mean PbB levels of 2.58 ± 0.30 µg/dl. Enzymatic δ-ALAD, CAT, and SOD activities showed no significant variations when plotted against PbB levels. Finally, children living in the suburbs have higher PbB levels than their city counterparts, while low socioeconomic status increased δ-ALAD inhibition compared with that of middle-income children. Overall, these results evidenced a substantial reduction in exposure to Pb in this pediatric population over a decade after Pb was restricted in gasoline and reveal the importance of pursuing novel biomarkers of toxicity along with the sociodemographic profile to complement Pb diagnosis.
铅（Pb）是一种在工业活动中发现的发育神经毒物，其中许多活动已在全球范围内被禁止。本研究旨在评估阿根廷科尔多瓦儿童目前的血铅（PbB）水平，并将其与 1996 年禁止在汽油中添加铅之前进行的类似研究进行比较。我们还试图通过测量δ-氨基-γ-酮戊酸脱水酶（δ-ALAD）、超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）的活性来确定与机制相关的生物标志物。最后，我们旨在确定社会人口特征是否与铅毒性有关。2009 年 9 月至 2010 年 2 月期间采集了 161 名健康儿童的血样，结果显示平均 PbB 水平为 2.58 ± 0.30 µg/dl。酶活性 δ-ALAD、CAT 和 SOD 的活性与 PbB 水平之间没有明显的变化。最后，与城市儿童相比，居住在郊区的儿童的 PbB 水平更高，而与中等收入儿童相比，社会经济地位较低的儿童的 δ-ALAD 抑制作用更高。总体而言，这些结果表明，在限制汽油中添加铅十多年后，儿科人群中铅暴露量大幅减少，并揭示了在补充铅诊断时，除社会人口特征外，还需要寻求新的毒性生物标志物。
