Biochemical Signs of Children's Microsaturnism

Abstract

For industrialized areas, the problem of the anthropogenic pollution of the environment is not only relevant, but it also exacerbates at a qualitatively new level due to a significant deterioration of almost all the indicators of the population health, especially children's health. Among the wide variety of the factors that affect the people, the leading place belongs to the chemical one, in the spectrum of which the special place is occupied by the heavy metals and such a global and potentially dangerous toxicant as lead is on the first place. The purpose of research was to assess the low-dose effect of lead on the microelement state and prenosological indicators of the health of preschool children living under conditions of constant exposure to it. Material and methods. The obtained data testify to the constant presence of lead in environmental objects city Dnepr in concentrations for the most part do not exceed permissible ones, however, in 1.5-1.6 times higher than in unpolluted areas. Hygienic monitoring of the content of lead, copper and zinc in the air, water and food products of two industrial regions of the city of Dnipro and a "conditionally clean" region of a non-industrial city were carried out. The degree of influence of lead load was estimated with using a dose-dependent approach using biomonitoring and specific biochemical parameters. To assess the prenosological state of health of the child population, 46 and 57 children from preschool institutions in the observation areas aged 5 to 6 years old and 20 children from the control area were simultaneously examined according to a similar scheme. Results and discussion. The average content of lead in the blood of 70-100% of children from the industrial areas is 1.6-5 times higher than the standard and 9.5-30 times higher than the control one. In the urine of 33-66% of the surveyed children from the industrial areas and 12% of children from the control one the lead concentration is 6.4-12.8 times higher than the standard. Hair of preschoolers contains lead in concentrations that correspond to the permissible level, but 2-3.5 times higher than that of children in the control area, found in 73-78% of those surveyed. The concentration of lead in the teeth of children from industrial regions is 4.6 times higher than the normative level recommended by the World Health Organization, and in nails it is 3.2 times higher than the background values. The content of copper in all biosubstrates of children is determined at the physiological level, and zinc is lower by 49-80%. The increased content of lead in biosubstrates is accompanied by an increase of the activity of δ-ALA in the urine of children from the industrial areas by 1.2 and 1.9 times compared with the recommended norm, it was observed in 51-89% of the examined. Conclusion. The revealed biochemical disorders in the organism of children indicate the beginning of the development of microsaturnism, which, on the background of violations of the microelement status, is the ground for the search for effective measures of reducing the "lead pressure" on the health of the child population