Cytogenetic biomonitoring in petrol station attendants: micronucleus test in exfoliated buccal cells

Abstract

To study the effects of occupational exposure to petroleum derivates such as benzene, exfoliated buccal cells from 50 petrol station attendants and 50 age- and sex-matched control subjects were examined for micronucleus (MN) frequency. Frequencies of nuclear abnormalities (NA) other than micronuclei, such as binucleates, karyorrhexis and karyolysis, were also evaluated. Benzene exposure was ascertained by measuring urinary phenol levels. The mean urinary phenol level of station workers was found to be significantly higher than that of control subjects (P < 0.05). Analysis of buccal cells revealed that MN and NA frequencies in petrol station workers were significantly higher than in control subjects (P < 0.01) and also significantly related to smoking habit (P < 0.01). Our findings indicate that the petrol station workers are under risk of significant cytogenetic damage.

Exposure of thermoelectric power-plant workers to volatile organic compounds from fuel oil: Genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in buccal epithelial cells

“…Regarding ONA, and fully in line with our observations, Martins et al [22] found that tobacco smoking did not significantly interfere with the cytotoxicity induced by petroleum derivates in buccal mucosa cells or in the lateral border epithelium of the tongue in petrol-station attendants. On the other hand, Ç elik et al [32] report that tobacco use increased significantly the risk of having a high frequency of bi-nucleated cells, but the individuals in their study were heavy smokers (20-25 cigarettes/day), contrary to those in the present study (7.5-16 cigarettes/day).…”

“…The frequency of MNC in the administrative workers was lower than 1 per 1000 cells, which is within the normal range for the human oral epithelium (0.5-2.5 MNC/1000) as reported by Holland et al [11] and Ceppi et al [26]. The higher frequency of MNC observed among the group exposed to VOCs is also in line with other studies, especially those focusing on exposure to diesel fuel and vehicle exhaust [21,22,[31][32][33]. On the other hand, exposure to VOCs was not related to the frequency of ONA (karyorrhexis, karyolysis, and pyknosis).…”

“…Alcohol is also described as a genotoxic substance [39], but in this study, as well as in those of others [21,23,31,32,40] its consumption was not significantly associated with the increase in frequency of MNC or ONA in the buccal epithelium.…”

“…Tobacco smoke is known to contain numerous genotoxic chemicals [34,35], but conflicting results regarding the genotoxic effects of smoking have been reported. For instance, Ç elik et al [32] and Burgaz et al [36] found a significant increase in the frequency of MNC in smokers compared with non-smokers, whereas Bolognesi et al [37] and Martino-Roth et al [38] reported a small decrease in the frequency of MNC in smokers, although this was not significant. Similar to our observations, several authors also found that the occurrence of MNC was not significantly associated with smoking status in individuals occupationally exposed to fuel derivatives [21,22,31,33] or other potentially carcinogenic substances, such as pesticides [23,24].…”

Self-perceived oral health status and cytomorphological changes in individuals with addictive oral habits: assessed by WHO oral health questionnaire for adults

“…39 A study reported that it is a nuclear abnormality seen in dysplastic cells and is seen to be increased in smokers. 46 In the present study significant increase in binucleation frequency was observed in smokers group.…”