Comparison of patella lead with blood lead and tibia lead and their associations with neurobehavioral test scores.

Objective: Lead exposure in adults is associated with worse cognitive function in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Previous studies have mainly examined relations with blood lead or cortical bone lead; few have examined trabecular bone lead.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the relations of patella lead and other lead biomarkers with measures of neurobehavioral and peripheral nervous system function in 652 lead workers.

The protective effect of delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase 1-2 and 2-2 isozymes against blood lead with higher hematologic parameters.

Previous studies have suggested that delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) types 1-2 or 2-2 are protective against the toxicity of blood lead (PbB) when zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP) levels are low because of differential binding of lead in erythrocytes. The hypothesis is that subjects with the ALAD 1-1 genotype are more susceptible to lead exposure with impaired hematologic synthesis and therefore that iron nutrition is more important in those with the ALAD 1-1 genotype. The purpose of this study was to prove the protective effect of ALAD 1-2/2-2 against PbB with higher hematologic parameters.