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Lead poisoning
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Lead poisoning is the damage this metal causes inside the body. Lead is not biodegradable, meaning living things can't break it down. It gets in mainly through the lungs, when it is breathed in, or through the digestive tract, when it is swallowed, and once inside it is distributed between the bones and the soft tissues.
Inside the body, on the one hand, it sticks to sulfhydryl groups, chemical parts found on many proteins, and ends up disrupting them. On the other, it resembles calcium and zinc, which are cations, particles with a positive electrical charge, and it interferes with the cell mechanisms those cations regulate. Lead is a fake key that jams the calcium or zinc lock.
In the blood, lead causes anemia, which means having too few red blood cells, called erythrocytes. It interferes with several enzymes that make heme, a component of the red blood cell, or that maintain its membrane, the outer envelope that encloses it. The result is that fewer red blood cells are made and more are destroyed.
In brief
In lead poisoning, this nonbiodegradable metal is absorbed mainly through the lungs or the digestive tract and is distributed between bone and soft tissues.
It binds to sulfhydryl groups on many proteins and, because it resembles calcium and zinc, interferes with cellular mechanisms those cations regulate.
Lead is a fake key that jams the calcium or zinc lock.
It causes anemia by interfering with several enzymes that make heme or maintain the erythrocyte membrane, so fewer red cells are produced and more are destroyed.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingLead Toxicity, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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