Oxygen and glucose consumption and lactate production of erythrocytes of workers exposed to inorganic lea

Summary Oxygen and glucose consumption and lactate production were measured at 37° C in samples of buffered suspensions of red cells from 39 subjects exposed occupationally to inorganic lead and from 24 non-exposed subjects. The same measurements were made in samples of red cells from normal blood and from suspensions or normal erythrocytes in saline, which had been incubated for 1 h at 37° C with varying amounts of added lead chloride. The haemoglobin concentration, the reticulocyte count, the stippled erythrocyte count, the concentration of coproporphyrin in urine, and the concentration of lead in blood were also determined in the workers exposed to lead.These conventional criteria indicated that the subjects were fairly heavily exposed, with some individuals in a state of mild poisoning. The washed erythrocytes from the exposed subjects, suspended in phosphate buffer, consumed more glucose during 3 h of observation (2.5 ± 0.4 M/ml (packed) cells·h =mean ± s. d.]) than did those from the non-exposed controls (2.2 ± 0.3 M/ml cells·h); the difference of the means was statistically highly significant (t = 3.88; p<0.001). The mean lactate production in samples of cells of the exposed workers (4.1 ± 0.5 M/ml cells·h) was slightly higher than in those of the controls (3.8 ± 0.7 M/ml cells·h), but the difference was not statistically significant. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean glycolytic quotients in the cells of the exposed people (0.85 ± 0.13) and those of the non-exposed controls (0.93 ± The oxygen consumption was identical within the experimental error in samples of both groups of subjects.There was a significant correlation between the glucose consumption in samples of erythrocytes of exposed subjects and the coproporphyrin concentration in urine of their respective donors. The findings are interpreted as likely to result from a shift towards a younger mean in the age distribution of the erythrocyte populations in samples of exposed workers as compared to those of non-exposed normal subjects, but other possible interpretations are also suggested. We conclude that (a) the previously reported deficiency in the potassium exchange of red cells from people exposed to inorganic lead is probably not due to a decreased rate of metabolic energy release in the cells; and that (b) the functional disturbance measured here in the red cells of the exposed people may reflect fairly well the overall effect of absorbed lead in the individuals' organisms.Final concentrations of 5 × 10^–9–5 × 10^–8M of lead chloride added in vitro into samples of whole blood or erythrocytes suspended in saline, which were incubated for I h at 37° C, did not affect the oxygen or glucose consumption nor the lactate production of the subsequently washed red cells resuspended in phosphate buffer at 37° C.Mrs S. Asp, M. A., drew the figures and performed the statistical calculations and Miss T. Lönnberg gave skilful technical assistance.Part of the material in this paper has been accepted for presentation at the XV International Congress of Occupational Health, Vienna, September 1966.The present work has been sponsored by a research grant from the Helena Lundqvist foundation to S. H.