Adverse effects of chronic exposure to mercury vapor on human renal glomerulus function

Objective To explore adverse effects of chronic exposure to mercury vapor on human renal glomerulus function.Methods A thermometer plant was selected as research field in this study and the staff in the plant was divided into groups of exposure and control according to mercury concentration in the air of workplace.Mercury in urine and hair and renal glomerulus function of 186 workers were determined, and a questionnaire survey on workers health status was also conducted.Results Mercury levels in urine and hair and cumulative exposure index in the exposure group were higher than those of in the control group significantly(P<0.01).Serum creatinine(Scr) in the exposed group(81.6±43.9 mol/L) was significantly higher than that of in the control group(65.6±36.6 μmol/L).Endogenous creatinie clearance rate(C cr) in the exposed group(81.6±39.7 mL/min) was significantly lower than that of in the control group(113.4±45.4 mL/min).Multiple regression analyses showed that Scrincrea sed and C cr decreased significantly with the increment of mercury in the hair.On the other hand, both Scr and blood urea nitrogen increased when cumulative exposure index increased.Conclusion The change of renal glomerular filtration function is closely correlated with chronic mercury cumulative exposure indices and mercury content in the hair and could be used as an indicator of long term renal function damage caused by murcury exposure.