Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, 100069 Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, 100069 Beijing, China.
Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Hospital of Huaibei Mining Co., Ltd, Huaibei, Anhui Province 235000, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Apr 15;869:161812. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161812. Epub 2023 Jan 24.
Both occupational and environmental exposure to heavy metals are associated with various neurodegenerative diseases. However, limited evidence is available on the potential effects of exposure to metallic mixtures and neural damage.
This study aimed to evaluate the association between metal mixtures in urine and neural damage biomarkers in welders.
In this cross-sectional study, a total of 186 workers were recruited from steel mills. Twenty-three metals in urine were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Serum neural damage biomarkers, including neurofilament light chain (NfL), sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), prolactin (PRL), and dopamine (DA) were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Multivariable linear regression, Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR), and Quantile g-computation (QG-C) were employed to estimate the association between metals exposure and neural damage biomarkers.
Inverted u-shaped associations of nickel with NfL, S1P, and DA were observed in the BKMR model. A non-linear relationship was also found between Fe and PRL. Urinary cobalt was positively associated with serum PRL and had the strongest positive weights in the QG-C model. Urinary lead was associated with higher serum S1P levels. We also found the interaction among nickel, zinc, arsenic, strontium, iron, and lead with the neural damage biomarkers.
This study provides new evidence of a direct association between metal mixture exposure and the serum biomarkers of neural damage. Several metals Ni, Co, Pb, Sr, As and Fe, may have adverse effects on the nervous system, while Zn may have neuroprotective effects.
职业和环境暴露于重金属与各种神经退行性疾病有关。然而，关于暴露于金属混合物和神经损伤的潜在影响的证据有限。
本研究旨在评估焊工尿液中金属混合物与神经损伤生物标志物之间的关系。
在这项横断面研究中，共从钢厂招募了 186 名工人。采用电感耦合等离子体质谱法测定尿液中的 23 种金属。采用酶联免疫吸附试验试剂盒检测血清神经损伤生物标志物，包括神经丝轻链（NfL）、鞘氨醇-1-磷酸（S1P）、催乳素（PRL）和多巴胺（DA）。采用多变量线性回归、贝叶斯核机器回归（BKMR）和分位数 g 计算（QG-C）估计金属暴露与神经损伤生物标志物之间的关系。
BKMR 模型中观察到镍与 NfL、S1P 和 DA 之间呈倒 U 形关联。Fe 与 PRL 之间也存在非线性关系。尿钴与血清 PRL 呈正相关，在 QG-C 模型中具有最强的正权重。尿铅与血清 S1P 水平升高有关。我们还发现镍、锌、砷、锶、铁和铅与神经损伤生物标志物之间存在相互作用。
本研究提供了金属混合物暴露与血清神经损伤生物标志物之间直接关联的新证据。几种金属 Ni、Co、Pb、Sr、As 和 Fe 可能对神经系统有不良影响，而 Zn 可能具有神经保护作用。
