Chromosomal Aberrations (CA), Sister Chromatid Exchanges (SCE), and High-Frequency Cells (HFC) Frequencies in Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes of Tunisian Gasoline Truck Loaders

Abstract

ABSTRACT Gasoline constitutes a mixture of chemicals that contain well-known genotoxicants. Thus, chronic occupational exposure to gasoline may be considered to possess genotoxic risk. In this study, the frequencies of total chromosomal aberrations (TCA), aberrant cells (Ab.c.), sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), high-frequency cells (HFC), and high-frequency cell individual (HFI) were investigated in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 17 gasoline-exposed workers (10 smokers and 7 non-smokers) and 22 unexposed reference subjects (12 smokers and 10 non-smokers). The exposed subjects were gasoline truck loaders at a gasoline company from Tunis City, north of Tunisia. The results indicate multiple CA, such as dicentrics (DIC), chromatid breaks (SB), and chromosome breaks (DB). A significant difference was observed in TCA and Ab.c. frequencies between exposed and unexposed groups (p < 0.01). A significant difference was found in frequencies of SCE (p < 0.01) and HFI (p < 0.05) between exposed and unexposed groups. SCE and TCA frequencies of smokers were found to be significantly higher than those of non-smokers in both groups. There was an interaction between gasoline exposure and smoking habit for TCA (p = 0.020), but not for SCE. Our findings indicate that gasoline truck loaders were under risk of significant cytogenetic damage that was enhanced by their smoking habit.