부산대학교 도서관

Employees in the footwear manufacturing industry are routinely exposed to complex mixtures of solvents used in cleaning and as diluents in glues, primers, and degreasers. The aim of this study was to determine the genotoxic effects in a group of footwear-workers occupationally exposed to solvent-based adhesives and solutions containing organic solvents, mainly toluene. Cytogenetic analysis in peripheral blood lymphocytes was used to compare 40 shoe workers (14 men and 26 women) and 31 control subjects selected from general population not exposed to any mutagenic or carcinogenic agents. Frequencies of damaged cells, chromosomal aberrations, including breaks and rearrangements were scored for both groups. Polymorphisms in genes GSTT1, GSTM1, and GSTP1, determined by PCR-based methods, were used as biomarkers of susceptibility. The exposed group showed a significant increase of total chromosomal aberrations (CAs) in comparison with control (2.65±0.24%; 1.54±0.12 respectively). The frequency of chromosome-type aberrations (CSA) was 3.9 time higher (P<0.001) in the exposed than in the control group (2.07±0.19%; 1.52±0.12%, respectively). The frequency of chromatide-type aberations (CTA) was significantly lower (P<0.05) in the exposed group than in the control group (0.58±0.2%; 1.02±0.11% respectively). GSTT1 null subjects exhibited significantly higher (P<0.05) frequency of CSAs than GSTT1 positive subjects (2.00±0.43%; 1.40±0.25%). Different genotype of GSTM1 and GSTP1 did not show any influence on frequency of evaluated parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]