過去幾十年來，中風在台灣一直是僅次於癌症之最主要死因，其病因之ㄧ是由於血管內皮細胞受到氧化傷害產生動脈硬塊阻塞血管而產生。而在過去的研究中指出鉛會造成細胞膜的脂質過氧化作用產生氧化物質，因此可能提高中風的風險，但目前仍然缺乏証據指出鉛與中風間的直接關係。
此研究目的即是探討高鉛暴露的情況下是否會對氧化傷害及中風造成影響。本研究為橫斷式研究，選取194位某鉛蓄電池工廠女性員工作為研究對象，蒐集血液、生理值及結構式問卷資料進行分析，血液以感應耦合電漿質譜分析儀分析血中鉛濃度、免疫分析法分析血清中丙二醛濃度、超氧化物歧化酶濃度和基質金屬蛋白酶濃度。
分析結果研究對象有194人，平均年齡為46.42 ± 8.77歲，平均血中鉛濃度為24.05 ± 13.15 μg/dL，比一般民眾高出8至12倍，在基質金屬蛋白酶-9多變量線性迴歸模型中，放入丙二醛、超氧化物歧化酶活性和鉛濃度進入模型中調整後，血中鉛濃度有達到統計上的顯著負相關和超氧化物歧化酶濃度有達到統計上的顯著正相關(P=0.008和0.002)。
結果顯示處於高血中鉛暴露的狀態下，可能對於基質金屬蛋白酶和血中鉛及氧化傷害，可能出現不同的機制，而造成本研究與其他文獻結果的不同。
Over the past few decades, stroke has been the leading cause of death only after cancer in Taiwan. One main cause for stroke is the vascular blockage caused by arterial lump which was produced by vascular endothelial cells after oxidative damage. Findings from past studies indicate that lead can cause membrane lipid peroxidation in producing oxidative substances, which may increase the risk of stroke. There is yet lack of evidence to support the direct relationship between lead and stroke.
The objective of this study is to investigate whether oxidative damage and stroke will be associated with high levels lead exposure. The study was a cross-sectional study,for which a total of 194 lead battery factory female employees were recruited. Their blood samples, physiological data and structured questionnaires were collected for analyses. Blood lead levels were analyzed by ICP-MS using blood. Malondlaldehyde, superoxide dismutase and matrix metalloproteinases concentrations were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using serum samples.
Results showed that for these 194 subjects, their average age was 46.42 ± 8.77 years, average blood lead concentration was 24.05 ± 13.15 μg / dL, which appeared to be 8-12 times higher than that of the general population. In the multivariate linear regression model for matrix metalloproteinases-9, the effect of malondlaldehyde, superoxide dismutase and lead concentration was adjusted in the model. Indeed, blood lead levels were found to have statistically significant negative correlation and superoxide dismutase have statistically significant positive correlation with matrix metalloproteinases-9 (P = 0.008 and 0.002).
Findings of this study indicate that under extremely high blood lead exposure as observed in our sample, the influence of matrix metalloproteinases by blood lead and oxidative damage may act on different mechanisms, which subsequently leads to the unexpected results of our study from previous literature.
