Application of a geographic information system to explore associations between air pollution and micronucleus frequencies in African American children and adults

Abstract

Exposure to air pollution has been associated with adverse respiratory and cardiovascular health outcomes in both children and adults. In this study, we used geographic information systems (GISs) to explore possible associations between chromosomal damage in 65 African American children and their mothers from Oakland, California, and both proximity to traffic and regional ozone levels. Study participants were interviewed at the Healthy Child Clinic of Children's Hospital, Oakland, and their blood and buccal cells were collected for assessment of chromosomal damage by the micronucleus (MN) assay. Regional ozone levels, which decreased from April to November with a secondary peak in late summer, were highly correlated with season by month (r=-0.84, P=0.02) and strongly associated with MN frequency (frequency ratio (FR): 3.37, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.30-8.72) in both cell types of children and adults. Additionally, MN frequencies were modestly associated with individual measures of traffic density in children (FR=2.45, 95% CI=0.86-7.10), but not in adults; this suggests a greater vulnerability to traffic-related air pollution in children. Smoking in the household also increased MN frequency in the lymphocytes of children (FR: 1.13, 95%CI: 1.01-1.24) and adults (FR: 1.06, 95%CI: 0.99-1.13), whereas vitamin use in adults decreased MN frequency in both lymphocytes and buccal cells (FR: 0.17, 95%CI: 0.02-1.31; FR: 0.18, 95%CI: 0.03-1.18, respectively). Our data indicate that GIS-generated measures of traffic density for individual households augment regional ozone monitoring data used to assess effects of air pollution. This approach helped to demonstrate elevated cytogenetic damage in exposed minority children.

Micronuclei in Exfoliated Buccal Cells of Children Living in a Cluster Area of Salento (Southern Italy) with a High Incidence of Lung Cancer: The IMP.AIR Study

“…Other studies evaluated the frequency of MNC in EBC of school-age children exposed to air pollutants. A higher MNC frequency, in respect of our study, was observed in children with mean age of 7.3 years living close to major freeways and arterial roads in Oakland, California (0.67 ± 1.44 MNC‰) [43] and in 9 years old children living near chipboard industries in the manufacturing district of Viadana, Italy (0.12 ± 0.09 MNC%) [44]. Moreover, a group of Brazilian children aged ≤7 years living in an urban polluted area showed a mean MNC frequency of 1.20 ± 0.83 MNC‰ while those living in a rural nonpolluted area measured 0.19 ± 0.31 MNC‰ [45].…”

Assessment of cytogenic damage in the form of micronuclei in oral epithelial cells in patients using smokeless and smoked form of tobacco and non-tobacco users and its relevance for oral cancer

“…It has been established that genomic damage is produced by exposure to genotoxic substances, medical procedures (radiation and chemicals),micronutrient deficiency (folic acid), life-style (alcohol, smoking, drugs, stress), urban pollution, chronic contact with arsenic and chromium and genetic factors, such as defects in metabolism and/or in the repair of DNA. [30] Bloching et al said that the subgingival plaque and synthetic dental materials in addition to chronic alcohol and tobacco consumption might cause genotoxicity in the oral cavity. [31] Mahimkar et al also stated that the degree of overlap in MNC frequency across the study groups is due to the influence of environmental and host factors.…”

DNA Damage in Buccal Mucosa Cells of Pre-School Children Exposed to High Levels of Urban Air Pollutants

“…Few studies have considered genetic damage in mucosa buccal cells as MN frequency in cells of children exposed to air pollution, and they only involved a small number of subjects showing cytogenetic damage in children or young adults living in polluted areas with a high concentration of PM or oxidant pollutants [33], [44]–[47].…”