DNA fragmentation as a bioindicator of peat fires’ smoke exposure

Abstract

Introduction. The impact of combustion products of organic substances on the body is known to be accompanied by the accumulation of DNA damage, which can lead to mutations and pathological changes in the cell and the whole organism. The prevalence and scale of this phenomenon poses an important task for studying the consequences that occur in smoke-exposed organisms and their offspring. 
 Materials and methods. The conditions of real peat smoke were reproduced for 40 minutes with a CO concentration of 99±2.5 mg/m3 with using of experimental bio modelling. The genotoxicity of peat fire smoke after exposure to male white rats was assessed by the occurrence of DNA damage in blood cells using the DNA comet method in the alkaline version. In the first part of the experiment, males were directly exposed to the smoke of a peat fire; in the second part – their sexually mature offspring of both sexes were examined for the occurrence of DNA damage in blood cells.
 Results. The males of the parental generation and offspring were found to be resistant to the effects of smoke components, which was confirmed by the absence of statistical significance in terms of «% DNA in the comet tail» compared with the control. At the same time, females of the received generation showed a statistically significant increase in blood cell DNA damage compared to the control group. 
 Limitations. The study was limited to the study of DNA fragmentation after a single 40-minute exposure to peat smoke in male white rats and their intact offspring. 
 Conclusion. The data obtained in this investigation indicate that damage to the DNA structure in the offspring of male rats exposed to peat smoke containing CO at a concentration of 99±2.5 mg/m3 can be considered as a bioindicator of genotoxic effects induced in the next generation.