Relationship Between Exposure to Heavy Metals and Prevalence of Renal Dysfunction

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Abstract
Total proteinuria (biuret method) and the urinary excretion of specific proteins (albumin, transferrin, orosomucoid and IgG measured by an automated immunoprecipitin reaction and β 2-microglobulin determined by radioimmunoassay) have been assessed in four groups of workers: a control group (n = 88) and a group exposed to cadmium (n = 148), mercury vapour (n = 63) and lead (n = 25) respectively. The results demonstrate that a moderate exposure to lead (lead concentration in blood < 62 jig/100 ml) does not change the prevalence of renal dysfunction, whereas mercury vapour exposure increases the prevalence of subjects with excessive excretion of albumin (>12mg/g creatinine), orosomucoid (> 4.35 mg/g creat.) and IgG (> 3.5 mg/g creat.). Besides an increased excretion of β 2 -microglobulin (> 200 μg/g creat.) workers exposed to cadmium excrete a greater amount of high molecular weight proteins. An increased excretion of urinary proteins occurs when mercury and cadmium level in urine exceeds 50 and 10 μg/g creatinine respectively.

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