Status of some Toxic Heavy Metals, Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Biomarkers Among Petty Traders in Swali Market Yenagoa Bayelsa State Nigeria

Abstract

Petty trading is an economic activity that involves the selling and buying of goods in small scale. This study was aimed on the status of some toxic heavy metals, oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers among petty traders in Swali market Yenagoa Bayelsa State Nigeria. Five milliliters blood specimens were collected from each of the one hundred and five participants and dispensed into lithium heparin anti-coagulated bottles respectively. These participants were further grouped into control group made up of 35 non petty traders, experimental group one made up of 35 petty traders with < 6 years petty trading experience and experimental group two made up of 35 petty traders with 6-12 years petty trading experience. All the participants were within the age bracket of 28-45 years. The collected blood specimens were spun with the aid of a colorimeter at 2,500 revolution / minute and used for the measurement of cadmium (atomic absorption spectrophotometry method), lead (atomic absorption spectrophotometry method), glutathione peroxidase (ultra violet method), malondialdehyde (thiobarbituric acid method), interleukin-6 (elascience method) and C-reactive protein (latex turbidimetry method) using SPSS 23.0 version as the statistical package with the results expressed as mean ± SD via the use of student “t” test analysis and considered significant at p < 0.05. The mean values of cadmium  ( 0.05 ± 0.02) µg/dl, (p = 0.91), lead (0.22 ± 0.02) µg/dl, (p = 0.87), glutathione peroxidase (2.72 ± 0.22) µmol/L, (p = 0.95), malondialdehyde (2.87 ± 0.25) µmol/L, (p = 0.92), interleukin-6 (10.26 ± 0.97) pg/ml, (p = 0.02) and C-reactive protein (9.75  ± 0.52) mg/L, (p = 0.02) revealed no significant alterations among the participants in experimental group one with the exception of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein as compared to the control group cadmium (0.04  ± 0.01) µg/dl, lead (0.20 ± 0.02) µg/dl, glutathione peroxidase (2.71 ± 0.19) µmol/L, malondialdehyde (2.84  ± 0.21) µmol/L, interleukin-6 (8.24  ± 0.83) pg/ml and C-reactive protein (4.72 ± 0.43)mg/L while in the experimental group two participants the mean values of cadmium (0.14  ± 0.02 ) µg/dl, (p = 0.03), lead (0.93  ± 0.03) µg/dl, (p = 0.02), glutathione peroxidase (4.85 ± 1.23) µmol/L, (p = 0.02), malondialdehyde (5.21 ± 1.30) µmol/L, (p = 0.02), interleukin-6 (12.66 ± 1.24) pg/ml, (p = 0.01) and C-reactive protein (14.72  ± 1.35) mg/L, (p = 0.01) were significantly elevated as compared to that of the control group: cadmium (0.04  ± 0.01) µg/dl, lead (0.20  ± 0.02) µg/dl, glutathione peroxidase (2.71  ± 0.19) µmol/L, malondialdehyde (2.84  ± 0.21) µmol/L, interleukin-6 (8.24 ± 0.83) pg/ml and C-reactive protein (4.72  ± 0.43) mg/L. In conclusion, petty traders with < 6 years trading experience may be prone to inflammatory disorder while those with 6-12 years trading experience may be at the risk of toxic heavy metals such as cadmium and lead poisoning, oxidative stress and inflammatory disorder. It is therefore recommended that these traders should go for occasional assessment of these parameters in a reputable medical laboratory facility