Inflammation mediators in employees in chronic exposure to neurotoxicants

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this work is to perform comparative estimation of cytokines levels in chlorinated hydrocarbons and metallic mercury exposure in employees in the dynamics of neurologic disorders formation.

Material and Methods

The contents of cytokines IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, TNF-α, INF-Γ were determined in blood sera using the method of hardphasic immunoferment analysis. The significance of different average values was assessed using the parametric and non-parametric criteria — Student (in normal distribution) and Mann-Whitney tests taking into account the Bonferonni correction (non-difference from normal distribution).

Results

It was shown that, a number of inflammation mediators with the dominance, depending on the expositional toxicant and expression of neurological deficiency, take part in the neurointoxication development. Healthy employees show pro-inflammatory responses with different expression degree, which dominate in the immune regulation processes regardless of the expositional factors (metallic mercury vapors and chlorinated hydrocarbons).

Conclusions

The production intensity and interconnection between the pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines may change in the occupational injuries of the nervous system development process. The decrease in the serum concentrations of cytokines along with the increase of clinical manifestation severity may prove dysregulation of the immune system, which promotes maintaining of pathological process and progradient process of neurointoxication. The most obvious is the imbalance of cytokines in the employees exposed to metallic mercury (in all the examined groups) that increases neurointoxication in the distant period.