engleski

Frequencies of stable and unstable chromosomal aberrations in Iymphocytes of workers employed in carbamate production

Carbamates are efficient pesticides widely used in agriculture. Their use began in the 1950s, and presently approximately 25 carbamate compounds are available on the market. Several epidemiologi¬ ; cal studies indicated possible correlation between occupational exposure to carbamates and increased risk of malignancies (non¬ ; Hodgkin's lymphoma, lung and rectal cancer). Present study comprised 20 workers employed in production of carbamates, and 20 control subjects with no record of exposure to known geno¬ ; toxic agents. Examinees are matched with control subjects by age (44.5 ± ; 10.22 vs. 43.9± ; 6.29, respectively), sex (9 females ; 11 males), and smoking (9 smokers ; 11 non-smokers). To determine translocation yield we used whole-chromosome paint probes for chromosomes 1, 2 and 4, and compared it with the resuits of the standard chromosomal aberration analysis. For each subject not less tha n 1000 metaphases were analysed. Translocation fre¬ ; quencies were calculated according to Lucas et al. (1992). Among workers significant increase in chromatid breaks (4.70 ± ; 1.95) com¬ ; pared to the control (2.10 ± ; 0.91) was found while other types of unstable aberrations did not differ significantly. Genomic frequency of translocations per cell was significantly elevated (exposed 0.0110 ± ; 0.0052 ; control 0.0054 ± ; 0.0026). Distribution of translo¬ ; cations among chromosomes 1, 2 and 4 did not differ from the one detected in control subjeets and matched DNA fraction for selected chromosomes. Since the translocation yield showed good correlation with years spent in carbamate production (R=0.53 ; p=0.028) we may conclude that exposure to this group of pesticide could pose a risk to genome integrity.

carbamate; chromosomal abberations; lymphocytes

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