Chemical and biological monitoring of chronic lead poisoning in the rat. Implications to the assessment of hazard of low-level lead

✍ Scribed by Donald C. Wigfield; Chuni L. Chakrabarti; Sandra C. Wright; Jennifer A. Eastwood; Regina Karkowska; Pam M. Johnson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 478 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0260-437X
• DOI: 10.1002/jat.2550060512

✦ Synopsis

A study on rats of the effects of lead on 6-aminolevulinate dehydratase (ALA-D) activity, and its pHdependent maximal enzyme activity is reported. Over a 5-week period, the lead burden and ALA-D activity in kidney, liver and brain are documented. Lead concentrations in the organs, expressed as pg/g protein are in the sequence kidney > liver > brain and reach essentially a constant level after 3 days of exposure. lhis is consistent with the existence of an efiicient mechanism removing lead from these organs. Lead affects the ALA-D in all three organs by reducing the activity and shifting the pH of maximum enzyme activity to more acidic values. In common with the lead levels, the ALA-D activity does not deteriorate beyond the levels reached after 3 days of exposure. The existence of a mechanism removing lead from the organs is further supported in a recovery study on blood and kidney, in which both lead level and ALA-D activity return essentially to normal values after 7 days of no exposure to lead.