Alterations of neutrophil functions in foundry and pottery workers

To assess the immune competence of workers occupationally exposed to mainly silica, neutrophil functions such as the chemotactic and oxidative burst activity in foundry and pottery workers were evaluated. The chemotactic activity was examined in 22 foundry and 10 pottery workers and oxidative burst activity of neutrophils were determined in 22 foundry and 6 pottery workers. Healthy subjects of comparable age, sex, and smoking habits and with no history of silica exposure were used as the control groups. Chemotaxis was carried out in Boyden chambers using Zymosan activated serum as chemotactic stimulus. Oxidative burst activity was measured using nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) dye reduction test. Both neutrophil functions were significantly reduced in silica-exposed foundry and pottery workers (p < 0.001) compared to controls suggesting that human chronic exposure mainly to silica and other chemicals originated from foundry and pottery settings may diminish neutrophil functions in humans.