Lead poisoning is extremely harmful to the nervous system because it disrupts several different pathways necessary for its function. This manifests as behavioral issues, memory issues, anemia, and even seizures and death. Specifically, lead is able to mimic or displace other metals, namely calcium and zinc. When lead replaces these metal ions, it often inhibits the function of the proper metal ions and thus the associated enzyme and neurotransmitter pathways. The enzyme δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase is inhibited by this mode of action. Also, lead exposure increases the concentration of free radicals and reactive oxygen species, which cause oxidative stress.
Could add a couple words to specifically locate the effects in the body– where is lead replacing calcium and zinc?
Would it be possible to expand a little more on your last comment regarding how lead exposure leads to increases in the concentration of free radicals and reactive oxygen species? Maybe this is getting too deep into the pathways behind lead poisoning, but a cursory explanation might be great! Also, I noticed that in your pathways you also explained that lead poisoning also occurs through ALAD inhibition. Is there any reason why in your answer you didn’t include anything about ALAD? I haven’t read the ALAD section yet so ignore my comments if this doesn’t make any sense.
Thank you for your comment! We decide to add ALAD but we decided to just leave what we have with ROS since it is more specific on the ROS page itself and do not want to get too specific here. Since it will be more specific later for the pathways page we decided to keep the answer a bit more general.
I like that this page is brief, but I think it could use a little bit more. Maybe a short description of symptoms that arise as a result of lead poisoning to show the effects of it and why the accumulation of free radicals is unhealthy.