Occupational lead exposure and amino acid profiles and liver function tests in industrial workers

The aim of the present study is to determine the effect of blood lead on the plasma levels of amino acids and serum liver enzymes in industrial workers in United Arab Emirates (UAE). This comparison study consisted of 100 industrial workers (exposed) and 100 non-industrial workers (non-exposed), matched for age, sex and nationality selected from Al-Ain, Abu-Dhabi Emirates. Industrial workers had higher proportion (19%) of smokers than non-industrial workers (11%) which was not considered to be statistically significantly different. Industrial workers had significantly higher mean of blood lead level (77.5 +/- 42.8 mug dl(-1)) than non-industrial workers (19.8 +/- 12.3 mg dl(-1)). The amino acid analysis showed higher values among industrial than non-industrial workers for histidine, isoleucine, leucine, threonine, lysine, valine, methionine and arginine (essential amino acids, (p < 0.0001). Ornithine, taurine, glutamic acid, serine, glycine, proline and alanine (non-essential amino acids) showed significantly higher values in industrial when compared with the non-industrial workers (p < 0.0001). Plasma liver function test, cardiac enzymes and renal function test were carried out on industrial and non-industrial workers. The results revealed alkaline phosphatase (p = 0.012) and lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.029) were significantly higher in industrial than in non-industrial workers. On the basis of this study, it can be concluded that a substantial difference in amino acid profiles, blood lead and LFT between exposed and non-exposed was found. These results might be related to lead exposure and might have affects on the kidneys or liver.