Abstract

For the purpose of determining the reference value of erythrocyte pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase (P5N) activity as a biological indicator to lead exposure, this study was conducted on the total of 225 healthy men who had not been exposed to lead occupationally, in July, 1994. The parameters selected in this study were age, hemoglobin, hematocrit, number of red blood cell, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular herloglobin concentration (MCHC), blood lead, and erythrocyte P5N activity. The blood lead concentrations were measured using a flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and erythrocyte P5N activities by Sakai's simple method using a HPLC(1986). The results were obtaina as follows; 1. The distribution of blood lead concentrations revealed log-normal distribution, and geometric mean and standard deviation of blood lead were 4.09 microgram/dl and 1.55 microgram/dl, respectively. 2. The erythrocyte P5N activity showed normal distribution, and the mean and standard deviation of the erythroeyte P5N activity were 12.34 umole uridine/h/g Hb and 2.21 umole uridine/h/g Hb, respectively. 3. All of the selected variables including blood lead concentration did not affect the erythrocyte P5N activity. Although the erythrocyte P5N activities were negatively associated with blood lead level, the correlation coefficient was not statistically significant. 4. From the result of this study, 8.7 micromole uridine/h/g Hb was obtained as a reference value of erythrocyte pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase activity for the healthy adult male who had not been exposed to lead occupationally.

• Keywords: Erythrocyte pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase activity(P5N);Blood lead