| Abstrakt: |
Ulcerative colitis (UC) imposes high economic burden to the health systems. However, the risk factors for development of the disease are still remained unknown. Exposure to heavy metals may be associated with occurrence of UC. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the concentration of metal(loid)s including Pb, As, Ni, Cu, Zn, Fe, and Se in drinking water with incidence of UC. To do this, 35 biopsy samples were each taken from patients and healthy subjects along with the same number of samples of their drinking water. The furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry was used for sample analysis. Our results showed that exposure to Pb, As, Cu, and Fe was associated with occurrence of UC (ORs > 1; P < 0.05); meanwhile, the concentrations of Zn and Ni were higher in healthy subject biopsies than UC patients (ORs < 1; P < 0.05). Also, the mean concentration of Pb in the drinking water samples (0.12 ± 0.07 mg/L) was higher than the permissible limit of the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI). The results showed that by increasing Pb in drinking water, Zn concentration in the intestinal tissues of patients was decreased (P = 0.005). However, the concentration of Pb, As, Cu, and Fe in UC patients may affect the exacerbation of the disease, though Zn may potentially reduce the risk of this disease. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that exposure to the metal ions through drinking water can affect the body's heavy metal content, which may be act as preventing or developing factors for UC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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