Research On The Biomarker Of Health Damage Effects Among Population Occupationally Exposed To Low Concentration Of Benzene Mixture

Objective: To study the health effects of benzene, toluene and xyleneon the exposed workers, an follow-up observation was carried out amongworkers exposed to the low concentration of benzene mixture. According tothe concentration of benzene, toluene and xylene in occupationalenvironment, 78 workers exposed to the benzene mixture were chosen asinvested group, while 31 workers in the food industry were as controlgroup. Health examination and DNA damage in peripheral blood cells wasconducted to explore early biomarkers of health effects in workers exposedto the low concentration of benzene mixture.Methods: Epidemiological investigation in the enterprises withbenzene mixture was combined with historical monitoring data to obtainthe occupational exposure level of benzene mixture in workers. Personalsampler and vapor-phase chromatography were adopted correspondly forair collection and analysis of benzene mixture in an electronic enterprise,necessary information, like working history, age, gender, habit of smoking,etc. was collected at the same time, and health examination, routine bloodtest, biochemical indicator of blood and DNA damage in peripheral bloodcells by single cell gel electrophoresis(SCGE) were carried outsimultaneously. Meanwhile, the influencing factors were also considered. Results: The detection rate of neurasthenia, gingiva bleeding andabnormal menstruation in the exposed workers was higher than those of thecontrol group, significant difference was observed between the twogroups(P＜0.01).After calibration of age, gender and smoking, comet rateand the length of comet tail of test group were much higher than that ofcontrol group, there was also significant difference by statisticalanalysis(P＜0.01).According to the length of exposure, one groups istouching in less than a year and the other is more than a year, there wassignificant difference by statistical analysis (P＜0.01).Conclusion: In the exposed workers, except the complainedsymptoms of nervous system, gingiva bleeding and abnormal menstruation,the results of the routine blood test and biochemical indicator of blood inthe normal range, while DNA damage could be observed by SCGE. So inthe aim of early screening, comet rate in peripheral blood cells is proposedto be used as biomonitoring indicator for the health surveillance amongworkers occupationally exposed to low concentration of benzene mixture.Influencing factors like gender, smoking, should be controlled effectivelyin the processing of research on the genetic damage effects of chemicals bySCGE.