Liver and kidney serum profile abnormalities in workers exposed to aflatoxin B1 in urban solid waste management centers

Many workers are exposed to health problems arising from molds, fungi, and their toxins during waste processing. Aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) level in airborne and settled dust, aflatoxin B 1 -albumin (AFB 1 -Alb) adduct in serum, liver and kidney biochemical tests, and body redox change of workers in municipal dry waste-processing sites were investigated. The surface, personal, and area air dust and the blood of workers’ samples were collected from the plastic and bread waste-sorting sections in three recycling municipal dry waste sites. Digestion (only for serum samples), passed through SPE cartridge, elution, and collection with methanol, immune-affinity column clean-up, and HPLC system equipped with post-column derivatization method and fluorescence detection were performed for determination of AFB 1 and AFB 1 -Alb levels in the samples. The mean level of dust and AFB 1 in the personal and area air, and in the settled dust and the AFB 1 -Alb in the serum of workers in the bread waste sorting, was higher than plastic waste-sorting samples, in all of the sites. The differences in the biochemical profiles of subjects exposed to aflatoxin B 1 as compared to the control group especially in liver and kidney function parameters as well as antioxidant factors of the serum were significant. The workers in handling of municipal waste may be exposed to potentially hazardous levels of aflatoxin B 1 . The adverse effects of AFB 1 on the kidney and liver may be caused by changes in the redox system.