Effect of lead on erythrocyte membranes.
The effect of blood lead on erythrocyte membrane proteins was studied in 28 workers from a scrap lead refining factory and in 18 controls working in railway construction. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of the polypeptides in the erythrocyte membrane showed that bands 3 and 4.1 had significantly decreased while bands 2.3, 6, and 7 had significantly increased in the lead workers compared with the controls. For the lead workers, the correlation coefficients between blood lead and bands 2.3 and 3 were r = 0.545 (p less than 0.01) and r = -0.51 (p less than 0.01) respectively. These results suggest that the decrease in erythrocyte membrane permeability results from a decrease in the membrane transfer protein responsible for band 3.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability / Q000187:drug effects; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008669:Metallurgy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009787:Occupational Medicine
D008565:Membrane Proteins; D007854:Lead