Masters Theses

Weiqing Chen

Abstract

"Lead poisoning is a perennial and serious health problem around the world. The daily widespread use of lead has dramatically increased the degree and longevity of its exposure to humans, exacerbating the task of lead poisoning treatment. Lead exerts adverse effects on cardiovascular, central nervous, renal, gastrointestinal, and reproductive systems. The common treatment for lead poisoning is chelation therapy. Chelators were proposed to treat lead poisoning a very long time ago. However, chelators have severe side effects that could cause more problems, in addition to lead poisoning. Therefore, another group of drugs has been suggested --- antioxidants. This type of chemicals not only possesses the chelating abilities for lead cation, but also has only small side effects on tissues. In addition, antioxidants are able to reduce the oxidative stress induced by lead so that a normal antioxidant defense system can be maintained in the human body. Vitamin C, Vitamin E, α-lipoic acid, β-carotene, and N-acetylcysteine are the common antioxidants used for treating lead poisoning. In recent years, a new chemical, N-acetylcysteine amide, the amide form of NAC, has been synthesized and tested as a promising new drug to treat oxidative stress related disorders. This research has focused on comparing the chelating abilities that N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and N-acetylcysteine amide (NACA) have for lead divalent cation. The complex forms of Pb-NAC and Pb-NACA were determined, followed by estimating the amount of lead chelated by these antioxidants. The results showed that there were multiple complex forms for both Pb-NAC and Pb-NACA, and that NACA has a higher affinity for lead than NAC"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Ercal, Nuran

Committee Member(s)

Huang, Yue-wern
Chusuei, Charles C.

Department(s)

Chemistry

Degree Name

M.S. in Chemistry

Sponsor(s)

National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
University of Missouri Research Board

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Spring 2010

Pagination

viii, 44 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (page 46).

Rights

© 2010 Weiqing Chen, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Antioxidants -- Therapeutic useChelatesLead poisoning -- TreatmentX-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Thesis Number

T 9603

Print OCLC #

680277399

Electronic OCLC #

680280244

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Chemistry Commons

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