Investigating the influence of emitted arsenic from crude oil combustion on glutathione level in workers at Al- Qudis power plant, in Baghdad, Iraq

Al-Qudis power plant was chosen as one of the power stations of Baghdad, to investigate the effects of transition heavy metal (arsenic) that emitted from combustion of crude oil in that power plant on the glutathione (GSH) level of the workers. Air samples were taken seasonally during August 2011- July 2012 from four sites at Al- Qudis power plant which are oil treatment unit 1(site 1), oil treatment 2 (site2), pre –chimney 1(site 3) and pre-chimney 2 (site 4), to measure levels of arsenic (As) under study. Blood samples were collected from the workers to estimate As. Air arsenic highest mean value (1.103±0.01 µg/m3) was recorded at site 2 during summer, while the lowest mean value (0.47 ± 0.07 µg/m3) was verified at site 3 during autumn. The highest mean value was exceeded the WHO limits which is less than 1 µg/m3. The results of current study showed that the mean value of arsenic in the blood of occupational samples was 0.877 ± 0.133 µg/l, the environmental samples of arsenic mean value was 0.569 ± 0.127 µg/l, while arsenic mean value of control sample was 0.0049 ± 0.0027µg/l. For reduced Glutathione (GSH) concentration, the current study results showed the highest value 5.4 ± 0.52 µmol/l in respect to control sample, while the lowest data 2.2595 ± 0.412 µmol/l and 2.6625 ± 0.475 µmol/l have been found in environmental and occupational samples, respectively. These results indicate that arsenic influence GSH level of Al-Qudis\'s workers.