Associations between High Blood Levels of Copper, Nickel and Chromium and Indicators of Their Adverse Effects on Respiratory Organs, Blood and the Immune System

Abstract

Introduction: An urgent hygienic problem in the regions with intensive industrial development is the persistence of ambient air pollutants and their adverse health outcomes in the population leading to higher incidence rates of non-communicable diseases and their chronicity. Objective: To substantiate the relationships between high blood levels of copper, nickel, and chromium and biomarkers of their adverse effects on blood, respiratory and immune systems for the tasks of early detection and prevention of poor health outcomes of the combined inhalation exposure to copper, nickel and chromium oxides on the example of the adult population at risk. Materials and methods: We carried out a hygienic assessment of ambient air quality in residential areas and analyzed general population incidence and prevalence for 2016–2020. We also examined the health status of women of reproductive age environmentally exposed to nickel, chromium and copper oxides in the area of residence and of relatively unexposed controls. About 5,000 chemical, clinical, immunological, and biochemical tests were done in 2022. Results: We established associations between higher blood levels of copper, nickel, and chromium and changes in the indicators of adverse health effects. Biomarkers of nonspecific and specific sensitization, chronic inflammation accompanied by an imbalance in the humoral and cellular immunity were hyperproduction of eosinophils in the nasal mucus, blood lymphocytes, specific IgG to copper, a decrease in the phagocytic index and number; lower ferritin marked disorders of iron homeostasis, higher malondialdehyde indicated induction of oxidative processes, and a decrease in antioxidant activity gave evidence of depletion of the total antioxidant activity. Conclusions: It is expedient to use our findings for early detection and subsequent substantiation of targeted measures aimed at preventing disorders of the respiratory and immune systems, blood, and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism, etiopathogenetically related to the combined exposure to the metal oxides tested.