Abstract
Muhammetli S., The Effect of Lead Exposure on Neopterin Levels in Metal
Recycling Industry Workers, Hacettepe University Graduate School of Health
Sciences Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Toxicology Program Master
of Science Thesis, Ankara, 2023. Lead is one of the life-threatening heavy metals that
can be found in detectable concentrationsin different compartments of the human body
after exposure. In industry, lead is widely used in many areas such as battery, metal
and mining. One of the important business lines in which occupational exposure to
toxic metals, mainly lead, may occur isthe “Recycling Sector”. Neopterin is a pteridine
derivative that can be used as an early biomarker in various disorders such as tissue
rejection, human immunodeficiency virus, multi-organ failure, sepsis, and cancer. In
addition to neopterin release, indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) enzyme, which plays
a role in the rate-limiting step of the kynurenine pathway, is also induced by cellular
immune activation. In this thesis, the relationship between blood lead levels and
urinary neopterin, biopterin, manganese, cadmium and serum neopterin, kynurenine
and tryptophan concentrations were evaluated in participants working in the recycling
industry. It was found that urinary neopterin, lead, manganese and cadmium levels
changed significantly with the increase in blood lead levels (all; p<0.05). Within the
scope of the thesis, it was determined that exposure to heavy metals, especially lead,
in the recycling sector affects the pteridine and kynurenine pathways.
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