New predictive tools for liver fibrosis among non-apparently contaminated heavy metal workers

Abstract

Background and aim: Accumulation of heavy metals, such as iron, copper, and lead can be hepatotoxic. This study aimed to investigate the effect of exposure to iron, copper, and lead on the liver, along with an experimental study. Methods: Thirty-six male workers from 3 factories in Egypt (12/each), lead, copper, and iron groups against a control group. Thirty-two rats were classified into 4 groups (8/each), control, iron (given oral ferrous gluconate, 10 mg/kg body weight), copper (given oral copper sulfate, 10 mg/kg body weight), and lead (given intraperitoneal lead acetate,8 mg/kg body weight) daily for 30 days. Results: Human iron, copper, and lead serum levels were non-significantly higher than control. Serum total glycosaminoglycans (TGAGs) and fibronectin (FN) were significantly raised in all workers with significant increases in alkaline phosphatase in iron and copper workers, and aspartate aminotransferase in ironworkers. Experimentally, liver hydroxy proline was significantly elevated, with disturbed tissue oxidative stress, serum liver indices with depressed hepatic tissue TGAG, and fibrosis among metal-loaded rats. Conclusion: The studied workers seem protected against metal intoxication, but non-significant serum increments could predict future hepatic fibrosis, manifested as correlative elevations in serum TGAGs and FN. Disrupted experimental fibro-genic parameters could explain our theory.