Biomonitoring de l’exposition professionnelle au plomb. Dosage de l’ALA urinaire

Abstract

Introduction: Lead is one of the most used metal by man, particularly in the battery’s manufacture. Nevertheless, this sector is associated with significant occupational exposure to lead having deleterious effects on different biological functions. Therefore, the biomonitoring of lead exposure has been the subject of several studies, including the determination of urinary aminolevulinic acid, a good indicator of the effect of this metal. The main objective of our study was the determination of ALA-U by a simple colorimetric method without extraction in workers exposed to lead and comparison of the results with those of a reference method "HPLC method". We set as secondary objectives, the evaluation of the exposure to lead of the workers by the study of the blood lead level, the ALA-U and the PPZ and the study of the correlations of thesefactors. Materiel and method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study with an analytical aim, which was on 116 workers exposed to lead of the two units the manufacture and the recycling of batteries. The determination of ALA-U by the spectrophotometric method was in the laboratory of toxicology Setif. For the comparative study, the data collection filled with the results of dosage of Frenchlaboratory CERBA. Results: The average rate of urinary ALA by the spectrophotometric method is 7.35± 5.76mg/l and by the reference, method is 5.52± 6.12μg/l. The average rates are 507± 194.16μg/l for blood lead and 7.81± 5.12 µg/g Hb for PPZ. The correlation study represents an increase in ALA-U and PPZ concentrations with blood lead and an increase in PPZ with urinary ALA. The workers of the two units do not have significantly different rates of blood lead levels and PPZ concentrations (p>0.05), due to the lack of results from the recycling unit. However, these results show that there is a significant relationship between urinary ALA and work unit (p<0.05). Conclusion: The many health consequences due to the occupational exposure to lead would justify state intervention. Consideration of this population is necessary and requires the adoption of protective measures in accordance with the international texts in force.