Follow up of indium exposure and health illness of the workers in indium tin oxide production plants

• Main Author: 張育萍
• Other Authors: 陳秀玲
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/19416739952266123774

碩士 === 弘光科技大學 === 職業安全與防災研究所 === 100 === Due to the rapid development of flat panel and liquid crystal displays (LCD), indium-tin oxide (ITO) is becoming increasingly used in the production process. ITO is a mixture of indium-oxide and tin-oxide; the most common use of ITO is in LCDs as a transparent electrical conductor and inflector in the production of LCD monitors, flat panel displays, plasma displays, and other high-technology fields. The previous reports have showed that ITO and indium compounds would cause adverse health effects to workers who exposed to them. However, the relationship from follow up study is lack on indium exposure and health illness in indium-tin oxide production plants. Therefore, this study aims to follow up the exposure of indium and health effects of workers in indium-tin oxide production plants. In this study, ninety-four workers were recruited to follow up their serum indium concentration by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry ICP-MS for 2 years. Meanwhile, plasma lipid peroxidation was measured as the MDA level by a fluorescence spectrophotometer. The tail moment was considered as DNA strand breaks by comet assay (single cell gel electrophoresis or SCEG). Krebs von den Lungen (KL-6), Surfactant Protein-D (SP-D) was analyzed by using a competitive ELISA immunoassay. The results of this study showed that no significant difference of serum indium, oxidative damage (tail moment, MDA), and protein (KL-6, SP-D) between smoker and non-smokers, as well as their drinking habit in the significantly differences were found in the follow up data of indium, protein (KL-6) concentration. The data showed that KL-6 might be a sensitive indicator of interstitial lung disease. Between different work years and departments, the serum indium concentration had significant difference. The serum indium was significantly correlated to MDA, KL-6 and SP-D. Therefore, the results of this study can provide information of the health assessment to workers in indium-tin oxide manufacturing plant and its related industries.