Heavy Metal Concentration in Human Eye

Purpoe To meaure the concentration of toxic heavy metal in the fluid and tiue of human eye. Deign Laboratory invetigation. Method Thirty autopy eye of 16 ubject were diected to obtain the aqueou, vitreou, len, ciliary body, retina, and retinal pigment epithelium/choroid. Concentration of lead, cadmium, mercury, and thallium in ocular tiue, ocular fluid, and blood were determined uing an inductively coupled plama-ma pectrometer and expreed a ng/g. Heavy metal concentration in ocular tiue were compared uing a paired t tet. Reult Lead and cadmium were found in all of the pigmented ocular tiue tudied, concentrating to the greatet extent in the retinal pigment epithelium/choroid (mean, 432 ± 485 ng/g and 2,358 ± 1,522 ng/g). Cadmium wa found in the retina in all eye (mean, 1,072 ± 489 ng/g) wherea lead wa found in the retina in 9 (30%) of 30 eye (mean, 53 ± 54 ng/g). Trace concentration of lead and cadmium were detected in the vitreou (mean, 0.5 ± 1.0 ng/dl and 19 ± 29 ng/dl), len (mean, 13 ± 18 ng/g and 20 ± 18 ng/g), and blood (mean, 0.5 ± 1.2 μg/dl and 3.1 ± 4.1 μg/l) but were not detected in the aqueou. Mercury and thallium were not detected in any ocular tiue or fluid or in the blood. Concluion Lead and cadmium accumulate in human ocular tiue, particularly in the retinal pigment epithelium and choroid. The potential ocular toxicity of thee heavy metal and their poible role in eye dieae require further tudy.