Immunological profiles in workers occupationally exposed to inorganic mercury.
Forty-one male mercury-exposed workers were examined for the serum concentration levels of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM), alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT), alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2M), ceruloplasmin (CPL) and orosomucoid (ORO). In the period preceding this investigation the mercury concentrations in workplace air ranged from 0.106 to 0.783 mg.m-3, the range of urinary mercury concentrations was from 0.029 to 0.545 mg.1(-1). All but two (IgG and A1AT) of the immune parameters tested were at the levels that were evidently higher than those found in a control group of 55 workers matched by age who lived in a relatively clean area. The percentage of individuals with no value out of the range of normal physiological limits was in the controls almost 80%, in the exposed 36.6% only. These findings confirm the literature data which show that an inhalation exposure to inorganic mercury may evidently have a stimulating effect on some serum proteins in humans.
Bencko
V
V
Postgraduate School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Wagner
V
V
Wagnerová
M
M
Ondrejcák
V
V
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002570:Ceruloplasmin / Q000032:analysis; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000633:toxicity* / Q000652:urine; D009961:Orosomucoid / Q000032:analysis; D014168:Transferrin / Q000032:analysis; D000515:alpha 1-Antitrypsin / Q000032:analysis; D000511:alpha-Macroglobulins / Q000032:analysis
D007136:Immunoglobulins; D009961:Orosomucoid; D014168:Transferrin; D000515:alpha 1-Antitrypsin; D000511:alpha-Macroglobulins; D002570:Ceruloplasmin; D008628:Mercury