Micronuclei frequency of a pesticide exposed population.
Authors
Costa-C; Silva-SP; Coelho-PS; Costa-S; Snawder-J; Teixeira-JP
Source
Toxicol Lett 2011 Aug; 205(Suppl 1):S37-S38
Abstract
A wide range of chemical products known to be acutely toxic is nowadays used in the agricultural sector - a large number of pesticides with different compositions. Nevertheless, the effects in human health as result of long-term exposure to low levels are not yet completely understood. Human biomonitoring is an extremely useful tool that provides an efficient and effective mean of measuring human exposure to hazardous agents. The methodology for determination of micronuclei in lymphocytes (CBMN) is well validated and accumulating data have shown its relationship to cancer risk. In opposition, analysis of MN in reticulocytes (MN-RET) in humans is a recent tool on human biomonitoring. In this study, we tried to understand the influence of pesticide exposure on MN-RET and CBMN frequencies. Simultaneously, the association between both indicators was studied. A total of 177 individuals were included in this study (93 controls and 84 exposed). All individuals included in exposed group dealt regularly with a great diversity of compounds and therefore it is considered a multiple exposure scenario. Both MN-RET and CBMN were significantly higher in the exposed subjects when compared to controls (p < 0.001). A significant and positive correlation was found between both indicators. Within the exposed group, one can observe that there is a significant correlation between MN-RET and recent exposure (exposure in the previous 10 days) that is it not found when considering CBMN. Likely due to the short life-span of reticulocytes, MN-RET showed to be more useful to characterize recent genetic damage than CBMN.
Keywords
Agricultural-chemicals; Agricultural-processes; Agriculture; Biochemistry; Biohazards; Biological-effects; Biological-monitoring; Biological-systems; Cancer-rates; Chemical-hypersensitivity; Chemical-properties; Exposure-assessment; Measurement-equipment; Pesticides; Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals; Work-areas; Worker-health; Work-operations
Contact
C. Costa, Environmental Health, National Institute of Health, Porto, Portugal
Priority Area
Construction; Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities
Source Name
Toxicology Letters. Abstracts of the 47th Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology
