[Delta-aminolevulinic acid measurement in people professionally exposed to lead]

Lead is an enzymatic toxic agent, one of its main effects being the perturbation of the porphyrine biosynthesis. This perturbation can be easily spotted using the rapid method of dosing the delta-aminolevulinic acid in urine (ALA). In this paper there are presented the results of the biotoxicological screening on a segment of population professionally exposed to lead. The exposed group contains 65 persons (50 men and 15 women) with the ages between 20 and 52, employed at different gas stations. Simultaneously, there was determined the concentration of the delta-aminolevulinic acid in urine on a witness group made up of 37 voluntary persons (22 men and 15 women) with the ages between 16 and 58. The delta-aminolevulinic acid in urine was ascertained by spectrophotometry method with Ehrlich reagent. The obtained data were statistically processed by "t student" test. At the exposed group the delta-aminolevulinic acid in urine ranges between 0.14 and 17.0 mg/l, and for each sex between 0.14-17.0 mg/l at men and 4.7-16.5 mg/l at women. The delta-aminolevulinic acid in urine of the witness group ranges between 0.2 and 8.1 mg/l, and for each sex 0.2-5.73 mg/l at men and 1.44-8.1 mg/l at women. The difference between the average value (9.45 +/- 4.47) of the exposed group and the median value of the witness group (3.85 +/- 2.05) is very significant (P < 0.01).