Biological markers, lead toxicity

ATSDR. 1995. Multisite lead and cadmium exposure study with biological markers incorporated. Atlanta, GA U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. 

Hu H, Rabinowitz M, Smith D. 1998. Bone lead as a biological marker in epidemiologic studies of chronic toxicity conceptual paradigms. Environmental Health Perspectives 106(1) 1-8. 

The consequences of lead exposure for the biosynthesis of heme have been studied for decades at times, various intermediates in the heme synthetic pathway have been used as biomarkers of exposure and effect. Indeed, in 1993, a National Research Council committee issued a report Measuring Lead Exposure in Infants, Children, and Other Sensitive Populations that reviewed the literature on lead and the heme biosynthetic pathway in a chapter titled Biologic Markers of Lead Toxicity (NRC 1993). The reader is referred to that chapter for a full description of the issue. A brief summary and interpretation of this large body of research are presented below. 

NRC (National Research Council). 1993. Biologic markers of lead toxicity. Pp. 143-190 in Measuring Lead Exposure in Infants, Children and Other Sensitive Populations. Washington, DC National Academy Press. 

The labeling of nanoparticles with fluorescent dyes allows one to use them as markers in biomedical appUcations. One possibility is to immobilize the fluorescent dyes physically or chemically on the particle s surface (e.g. FITC-dextran [29]). However, either desorption can occur, or the surface is changed that much that the biological response (cell uptake, toxicity) is significantly modified or even totally hindered. Therefore, an incorporation of hydrophobic dyes into the polymeric nanoparticles leads to marker systems where only the polymer and the highly variable surface functionaUty are the relevant factors for particle-cell interactions. 

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