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Assessment of DNA integrity (COMET assay) in sperm cells of boron-exposed workers

  • Inorganic compounds
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Abstract

An extension of a male reproductive study conducted in a boric acid/borate production zone at Bandırma, Turkey, is presented. The relation between DNA-strand breaks (COMET assay, neutral and alkaline version) in sperm cells and previously described sperm quality parameters was investigated in boron-exposed males. A correlation between blood boron levels and mean DNA-strand breaks in sperm was weak, and DNA-strand breaks in sperm were statistically not different between control and exposed groups. Therefore, increasing boron exposures had no additional contribution in addition to already pre-existing DNA-strand breaks in the sperm cells. Weak but statistically significant correlations between DNA-strand breaks and motility/morphology parameters of sperm samples were observed in the neutral version of the COMET assay, while correlations between the same variables were statistically not significant in the alkaline version. A likely reason for these negative results, even in highly exposed humans, is that experimental exposures that had led to reproductive toxicity in animals were significantly higher than any boron exposures, which may be reached under realistic human conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The project was supported by the National Boron Research Institute (BOREN) and by the Eti Mine Works General Management (2008-G0207). The outline of the study and the processing of the raw data were reviewed by an external expert panel. The authors thank the reviewers, Professors G. Assennato, Bari, and M. Guillemin, Lausanne, for their scrutiny and dedicated effort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara University, Tandoğan, 06100, Ankara, Turkey

    Yalçın Duydu & Aylin Üstündağ

  2. Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hacettepe University, Sıhhiye, 06100, Ankara, Turkey

    Nurşen Başaran, Sevtap Aydın & Ülkü Ündeğer

  3. Department of Chemistry, Middle East Technical University, 06531, Ankara, Turkey

    Osman Yavuz Ataman

  4. Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, 06100, Ankara, Turkey

    Kaan Aydos

  5. Bandırma State Hospital, Bandırma, Turkey

    Yalçın Düker

  6. Faculty of Statistics, TU Dortmund, 44221, Dortmund, Germany

    Katja Ickstadt & Britta Schulze Waltrup

  7. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Ardeystr. 67, 44139, Dortmund, Germany

    Klaus Golka & Hermann M. Bolt

Authors
  1. Yalçın Duydu
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  2. Nurşen Başaran
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  3. Aylin Üstündağ
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  4. Sevtap Aydın
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  5. Ülkü Ündeğer
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  6. Osman Yavuz Ataman
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  7. Kaan Aydos
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  8. Yalçın Düker
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  9. Katja Ickstadt
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  10. Britta Schulze Waltrup
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  11. Klaus Golka
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  12. Hermann M. Bolt
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Correspondence to Yalçın Duydu.

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Duydu, Y., Başaran, N., Üstündağ, A. et al. Assessment of DNA integrity (COMET assay) in sperm cells of boron-exposed workers. Arch Toxicol 86, 27–35 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-011-0743-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-011-0743-9

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