Affiliations: [a]
Department of Occupational Hygiene and Safety, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| [b]
Department of Occupational Hygiene and safety, School of Public Health, Bam University of Medical Sciences, Bam, Iran
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Zohreh Fazli, Department of Occupational Hygiene and Safety, School of Public Health, Bam University of Medical Sciences, Bam, Iran. E-mail: Zohreh.Fazli@outlook.com Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5206-2137
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Metal co-exposure of human subjects is an important matter of public health concern. It has been shown that Acetylcholinesterase activity is a suitable biomarker for the neurological risk assessment of some metals. A few studies have reported neurotoxicity risk among humans in co-exposure to chromium and nickel. OBJECTIVE:In this study, AChE activity was assessed in occupational exposure to chromium (VI) and co-exposure to nickel (II) and chromium (VI). METHODS:Air sampling was done in chromium electroplating workshops with the NIOSH 7600 and OSHA ID-121 methods for chromium and nickel assessment. Thirty-two workers from hard chromium plating and 30 from decorative chromium plating were evaluated, while AChE activity was measured by the Elman method. RESULTS:Personal exposure to chromium in 20% of the studied people exceeded the TWA set by ACGIH. Occupational exposure to nickel in 47% of the DCP subjects was found to be higher than TWA. Cholinergic inhibition in plating workers was marked by a decrease in AChE compared to controls. Subjects with chromium (VI) exposure contained significantly higher inhibition of AChE activity (p < 0.001) than workers with co-exposure to nickel (II) and chromium (VI). CONCLUSIONS:The chromium-matched electroplaters have no significant difference in AChE activity. It can be concluded that cholinergic inhibition with chromium (VI) is higher than nickel (II) exposure.
