Lead in Hair of Children with Chronic Lead Poisoning

Postmortem specimens from a patient with rheumatoid arthritis who had received 5 g of aurothioglucose were examined histologically, and their gold content was determined by activation analysis. The highest concentration of gold was found in the lymph nodes followed by the adrenal gland, renal cortex and other organs of the reticuloendothelial system. Comparatively low concentrations were found in tissues comprising the joint structure. Organs in which the greatest quantities of gold were stored include the bone marrow, liver, skin and bone. These findings demonstrate the body's capacity to store relatively large quantities of gold without adverse reaction, support the concept of a systemic rather than local mechanism of action (at the joint level) and demonstrate in vivo gold concentrations in the range expected to produce local cellular biologic effects.The metabolic and excretory pathways of gold compounds have been of interest to investigators since their benefit in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis was first reported more than 40 years ago (1). Abundant data are available regarding gold concentrations in blood and its components and in the urine and feces of human and experimental animal models (2-6). T' issue distribution of gold, on the other hand, has been adequately studied only in animals (7,8) Submitted for publication Apr 6, 1971; accepted June 21, 1971. tissues has never been systematically measured. There are scanty reports of gold levels in human skin, synovium, synovial fluid, etc, but methods of gold analysis were relatively insensitive and some of the patients studied had received only one injection of a radioactive gold-labeled compound rather than a course of gold therapy (2,3,9,10). No information is available regarding gold concentrations in internal organs or in the musculoskeletal system of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis on longterm chrysotherapy. The sudden death of such a patient afforded us the opportunity to analyze tissues for their gold content. CASE REPORTMV was a 68-year-old white female with classic rheumatoid arthritis, by the ARA criteria. of 16 years duration who died in November 1969, of an overdose of barbiturate. When first seen in the Arthritis Clinic at Jackson Memorial Hospital in June 1958, she related a 5-year history of progressive polyarthritis with morning stiffness. Physical examination showed active synovitis of metacarpal phalangeal and proximal interphalangeal joints, 16Arthritis and Rheumatism, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Januafy-FebrurIy 1 9 n )

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“…In fact, lead has been reported in greater concentrations in h,air than in any other body tissue (19).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Tissue gold concentration in a rheumatoid arthritic receiving chrysotherapy

Gottlieb

Smith

1972

Arthritis & Rheumatism

133

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“…19 The binding of cationic metals such as mercury and lead to hair have served in the past as markers for evaluating heavy metal toxicity. 34,35 Codeine is an organic amine that possesses cationic properties under physiological conditions and should theoretically have affinity for melanin. The 44-fold increase in the concentration of codeine in pigmented hair compared with nonpigmented hair ( Figure 5) suggests that codeine does bind to melanin and becomes incorporated into the growing hair shaft at greater concentrations than in nonpigmented hair.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of Phenobarbital and Codeine Incorporation into Pigmented and Nonpigmented Rat Hair

Gygi

Wilkins

Rollins

1997

Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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Drugs and endogenous compounds circulating in the blood may ultimately become incorporated into a growing hair shaft. Hair analysis for drugs of abuse is a growing field in the area of forensic and clinical toxicology. However, the underlying principles that govern drug incorporation into hair are not known. In this study, we examined the incorporation of a weak acid, phenobarbital, and a weak base, codeine, into Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat hair. Codeine or phenobarbital was administered to male SD rats at 40 mg/kg/day for 5 days by intraperitoneal (ip) injection. Hair was collected from the back 14 days after beginning the 5-day dosing protocol and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for codeine and phenobarbital. The time-courses of phenobarbital and codeine in plasma were also obtained after a single ip injection (40 mg/kg). Concentrations of codeine and phenobarbital in SD hair samples were 0.98 +/- 0.10 and 17.01 +/- 1.40 ng/mg hair. respectively. The areas under the curve (AUC) of plasma concentration versus time for codeine and phenobarbital were 1.58 and 414.50 micrograms h/microL, respectively. Notwithstanding the greater phenobarbital concentrations in hair, when plasma concentrations were considered, codeine was apparently incorporated to a 15-fold greater extent than phenobarbital. Because hair pigmentation may be important in drug incorporation, the incorporation of these two drugs was also studied in Long-Evans (LE; produces both black and white hair on the same animal) rats after 40 mg/kg/day of ip drug administration for 5 days. Hair was collected at the same time as the previous experiment. Concentrations of codeine in hair were 44-times greater in pigmented than nonpigmented hair from the same animals. In contrast, hair concentrations of phenobarbital were identical in both pigmented and nonpigmented hair. These data suggest that hair pigmentation greatly affects weak base incorporation but not weak acid incorporation into hair. Because hair concentrations of phenobarbital are not affected by pigmentation, phenobarbital may be an ideal drug to separate out factors other than pigmentation involved in incorporation of drugs into hair.

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“…Hair grows, on the average, about 1-2 cm per month and mineral content of the hair reflect the body's health condition [19]. Thus, HTMA can evaluate nutritional excess, deficiency or imbalance in the body.…”

Section: Evaluation Of Obesity Indexmentioning

confidence: 99%