Pulmonary and gastric lead burden assessment for lead-recycling plant workers

Gaëlle Uzu (1) , Jean-Jacques Sauvain (2) , Armelle Baeza (3) , Michael Riediker (2) , Magdalena Sanchez Sandoval Hohl (2) , Stéphanie Val (3) , Karine Tack (4) , Sébastien Denys (4) , Philippe Pradere (5) , Camille Dumat (1)

1 LEFE - Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement
2 Institut Universitaire romand de santé au travail
3 Unité "Biologie Fonctionnelle et Adaptative" / Equipe "Réponses Moléculaires et Cellulaires aux Xénobiotiques"
4 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques
5 STCM

As a function of PM size (PM10-2.5, PM2.5-1 and PM1) and origin (furnace, refining and channeled emissions), lead toxicity and bioaccessibility assessment were performed in a lead recycling plant using complementary biologic and chemical acellular tests. According to their origin, process PM displays differences in metal contents, granulometry and percentage of inhalable fraction. Lead gastric bioaccessibility was relatively low (maximum 25%) in comparison with previous available studies, though due to their high total lead concentrations, significant metal quantities couldreach the circulatory system. Whatever their origin, finest PM1 particles induced the greatest pro-inflammatory response from human bronchial epithelial cells. Moreover, this biological response was correlated with the acellular DiThioThreitol (DTT) assay, suggesting some biological predictive value for such acellular test.

Keywords: BIOACCESSIBILITY; DTT; LEAD; PM; OXIDATIVE STRESS; TOXICITY

Domains: Environmental Sciences

Gaëlle Uzu, Jean-Jacques Sauvain, Armelle Baeza, Michael Riediker, Magdalena Sanchez Sandoval Hohl, et al.. Pulmonary and gastric lead burden assessment for lead-recycling plant workers. 11. International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements (ICOBTE), Jul 2011, Florence, Italy. pp.NC. ⟨ineris-00973642⟩