Long-term lead elimination from plasma and whole blood after poisoning.

Summary, in English

OBJECTIVE:



Blood lead (B-Pb), one of the most used toxicological biomarker all kind, has serious limitations. Thus, the objective is to evaluate whether plasma lead (P-Pb) is more adequate.

METHODS:



A long-term follow-up study of five cases of lead poisoning. P-Pb was analysed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Kinetics after end of exposure was modelled.

RESULTS:



P-Pb at severe poisoning was about 20 μg/L; haematological effects at about 5 μg/L. Biological half-time of P-Pb was about 1 month; B-Pb decay was much slower.

CONCLUSION:



P-Pb is a valuable biomarker of exposure to and risk, particularly at high exposure.