Relation between blood lead and urinary biogenic amines in community-exposed men

The cross-sectional relation between levels of urinary biogenic amines (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and serotonin) and levels of blood lead was examined in a study of 645 male participants from a longitudinal study of aging. This stable population of men had initially been recruited from communities in and around Boston, Massachusetts, and had not been selected with regard to lead exposure. Blood lead samples and 24-hour and 2-hour urine specimens were collected during regularly scheduled clinic visits. In multivariate linear regression step-forward models, 24-hour epinephrine excretion was significantly and positively associated with blood lead (beta = 0.101 microgram(microgram/dl)-1 blood lead, SE (standard error) (beta) = 0.045, p = 0.026). Twenty-four-hour norepinephrine excretion was positively associated with blood lead (beta = 0.023 microgram(microgram/dl)-1 blood lead, SE(beta) = 0.029, p = 0.425), and both 24-hour dopamine (beta = -4.35 microgram(microgram/dl)-1 blood lead, SE(beta) = 6.90, p = 0.529) and 2-hour serotonin (beta = -0.348 microgram(microgram/dl)-1 blood lead, SE(beta) = 0.277, p = 0.210) excretion were negatively associated with blood lead; however, these relations did not achieve statistical significance. An increase of 10 micrograms/dl in blood lead was associated with an increase in epinephrine excretion of 11 micrograms/24 hours. These results support the hypothesis that epinephrine metabolism is influenced by low levels of lead exposure.