Abstract

The available biomonitoring studies on workers producing/handling nanomaterials (NMs) focused on potential effects on respiratory, immune and cardio-vascular system. Aim of this study was to identify a panel of sensitive biomarkers and suitable biological matrices to evaluate particularly genotoxic and oxidative effects induced on workers unintentionally exposed to graphene or silica nanoparticles during the production process. These nanomaterials have been chosen for ‘NanoKey’ project, integrating the workplace exposure assessment (reported in part I) with the biomonitoring of exposed workers reported in the present work. Simultaneously to workplace exposure characterization, we monitored the workers using: Buccal Micronucleus Cytome (BMCyt) assay, fpg-comet test (lymphocytes), oxidized DNA bases 8-oxoGua, 8-oxoGuo and 8-oxodGuo measurements (urine), analysis of oxidative stress biomarkers in exhaled breath condensate (EBC), FENO measurement and cytokines release detection (serum). Since buccal cells are among the main targets of NM occupational exposure, particular attention was posed to the BMCyt assay that represents a noninvasive assay. This pilot study, performed on 12 workers vs.11 controls, demonstrates that BMCyt and fpg-comet assays are the most sensitive biomarkers of early, still reparable, genotoxic and oxidative effects. The findings suggest that these biomarkers could represent useful tools for the biomonitoring of workers exposed to nanoparticles, but they need to be confirmed on a high number of subjects. However, such biomarkers don’t discriminate the effects of NM from those due to other chemicals used in the NM production process. Therefore, they could be suitable for the biomonitoring of workers exposed to complex scenario, including nanoparticles exposure.

抽象的

关于生产/处理纳米材料（NMs）的工人的现有生物监测研究集中于对呼吸系统，免疫系统和心血管系统的潜在影响。这项研究的目的是确定一组敏感的生物标志物和合适的生物基质，以评估在生产过程中对无意中暴露于石墨烯或二氧化硅纳米颗粒的工人产生的遗传毒性和氧化作用。这些纳米材料已被选为“ NanoKey”项目，将工作场所的暴露评估（在第一部分中报告）与本工作中报告的对暴露工人的生物监控相结合。在表征工作场所暴露的同时，我们使用以下工具监控工人：颊微核细胞因子（BMCyt）测定，fpg彗星试验（淋巴细胞），氧化的DNA碱基8-oxoGua，8-oxoGuo和8-oxodGuo测量（尿液），呼出气冷凝液（EBC）中氧化应激生物标志物的分析，FENO测量和细胞因子释放检测（血清）。由于颊细胞是NM职业暴露的主要目标之一，因此特别注意代表非侵入性测定的BMCyt测定。这项针对12名工人与11名对照进行的初步研究表明，BMCyt和fpg-comet分析是早期，仍可修复，遗传毒性和氧化作用最敏感的生物标志物。研究结果表明，这些生物标志物可能代表了对暴露于纳米粒子的工人进行生物监测的有用工具，但需要在大量受试者上加以证实。但是，此类生物标记物无法将NM的影响与NM生产过程中使用的其他化学物质所造成的影响区分开。