Assessment of exposure to organochlorine pesticides and levels of DNA damage in mother-infant pairs of an agrarian community.
Exposure to organochlorine pesticides was studied in a group of mother-infant pairs living in a rural area where agriculture is the main economic activity. Fumigation in this zone is performed with airplanes, thus affecting the inhabited areas around them, including schools. Heparinized venous blood of mothers and umbilical cords was used to evaluate the olive tail moment in the comet assay, and micronuclei, chromatin buds, and nucleoplasmic bridges in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Cord blood samples were taken at the moment of birth only from natural and normal parturitions. Determinations of hexachlorobenzene, aldrin, heptachlor epoxide, oxichlordane, t and c-chlordane, cis-nonachlor, mirex, alpha and beta-endosulfan, alpha, beta and gamma hexachlorocyclohexane, and p'p'-DDT, p'p'-DDE were conducted to establish the differential distribution of the toxicants between compartments, i.e., mother and umbilical cord. Significantly higher pesticide levels were found in umbilical cord plasma than in mothers' plasma for almost all compounds tested, except DDE and oxychlordane. Significantly higher olive tail moments were found in umbilical cords than in mothers, whereas micronuclei frequencies were higher in mothers than in umbilical cords. However, neither the levels of micronuclei nor the olive tail moment were correlated with pesticide levels. Given that no other exposure to toxic compounds has been identified in this region, the lack of correlation between genotoxicity biomarkers and pesticide levels may be due to the variability of the exposure and to endogenous processes related to lipid mobility during pregnancy, the metabolism of the compounds, and individual susceptibilities.
Departamento de Toxicología Ambiental, Facultad de Medicina, Laboratorio de Género, Salud y Ambiente, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, S.L.P., México.
Diana Lorena
DL
Alvarado-Hernandez
Regina
R
Montero-Montoya
Luis
L
Serrano-García
Omar
O
Arellano-Aguilar
Yolanda
Y
Jasso-Pineda
Leticia
L
Yáñez-Estrada
D000383:Agriculture; D020552:Comet Assay; D004249:DNA Damage; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange / Q000235:genetics; D048629:Micronuclei, Chromosome-Defective / Q000139:chemically induced; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D010575:Pesticides / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity; D011247:Pregnancy; D012424:Rural Population
D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D010575:Pesticides