The effect of environmental lead exposure on human health and the contribution of inflammatory mechanisms, a review

Lead (Pb) pollution has been considered as a major threat for human health due to induction of inflammatory cascades in various tissues. The aim of present review is to summarize the literature on the effects of lead exposure on respiratory, neurologic, digestive, cardiovascular and urinary disorders and the role of inflammation as an underlying mechanism for these effects. Various databases such as ISI Web of Knowledge, Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and Iran Medex, were searched from 1970 to November 2017 to gather the required articles using appropriate keywords such as lead, respiratory disorders, neurologic disorders, digestive disorders, cardiovascular disorders, urinary disorders and inflammation. Disorders of various body systems and the role of inflammation due to lead exposure has been proven by various studies. These studies indicate that lead exposure may cause respiratory, neurologic, digestive, cardiovascular and urinary diseases. The results were also indicated the increased inflammatory cells and mediators due to lead exposure including cytokines and chemokines due to lead exposure which suggested to be the cause various organ disorders.