Increase in the amount of erythrocyte delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase in workers with moderate lead exposure.

The amount of ALA-D in human erythrocytes was determined directly by radioimmunoassay or calculated from the restored activity assayed in the presence of zinc and dithiothreitol, and a good correlation was observed between the RIA-based and the restored activity-based amounts. The RIA-based amount of ALA-D in the blood of 10 normal individuals (blood lead levels of 5.6 +/- 2.3 micrograms/ml: mean +/- SD) and 19 lead-exposed workers (blood lead levels of 41.2 +/- 10.2 micrograms/100 ml) was 54.1 +/- 11.8 microgram/ml blood and 92.3 +/- 20.6 micrograms/ml blood, respectively, indicating an apparent increase of the enzyme amount in lead-exposed workers. A significant increase in the amount of erythrocyte ALA-D calculated from the restored activity in lead-exposed workers was observed even in the low blood lead level of 10-20 microgram/100 ml, resulting in the range of blood lead level 20-40 microgram/100 ml. No significant difference was observed in hematocrit and hemoglobin content between lead-exposed and non-exposed groups. These observations suggested that the increase of erythrocyte ALA-D in lead exposure was not due to anemia, which might result in the increase of young erythrocytes in peripheral blood. This increase in the amount of ALA-D in human erythrocytes might be a result of the function to overcome the inhibition of the enzyme in bone marrow cells during lead exposure, and these findings may throw light on the danger to human health of low-level lead toxicity.