Cytogenetic Biomonitoring of Road Paving Workers Occupationally Exposed to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Road pavement workers are exposed to many known carcinogens in their complex occupational environment.The study makes an attempt to investigate exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from thebitumen fumes among the road pavement workers engaged in different pavement sites at Coimbatore, TamilNadu and to thereby determine the genotoxic effects associated with it. The study included 36 road pavers and37control subjects with similar mean ages, smoking prevalence and alcohol consumption and was analyzed forDNA damage in blood leucocytes by Micronucleus assay (MN) and the Comet assay. The mean urinary 1-OHPconcentration in road pavers (1.68 ± 0.93) was significantly higher than in controls (0.55 ± 0.42). The results ofMN test and comet assay showed that the mean micronuclei rate in workers was significantly higher than thosein controls (P <0.05). The results of our study indicated that the genetic damage was detectable in road pavingworkers occupationally exposed to bitumen and also demonstrate the high sensitivity of comet assay to assessearly oxidative effects induced by exposure to bitumen fumes at low doses and confirm the suitability of urinary1-OHP as a biomarker of PAH exposure.