Abstract
Cytogenetic studies of routine culture of peripheral blood were carried out in 15 workers exposed to chronic benzene and 14 controls. Chromosome studies of direct bone marrow preparations were performed on 4 individuals and 2 controls. For each experimental subject or control 50 mitoses of karyotypic level were analyzed, while the number of bone marrow mitoses analyzed was modest. The aberrations were classified by chromatid type and chromosome type, the latter including: a) unstable changes, i.e. rings, dicentrics or fragments and b) stable monocentric anomalies, e.g. deletions, translocations and trisomies.
The workers were divided into two groups depending on the period of exposure to benzene. Group I included 7 men with 11 to 20 years' exposure. Group II consisted of 8 men with 2 to 5 years' exposure.
The percentage of chromatid type of aberrations in blood cells was 18.2 in group I, 15.0 in group II and 13.2 in controle. The unstable chromosome anomalies in group I (2.3%) and group II (2.2%) were significantly higher than in controls (0.3%). The stable chromosome anomalies in group I (2.8%) and group II (1.8%) were also considerably higher than in controls (0.2%). The chromosomal analysis of bone marrow cells showed similar changes. The relatively increased rate of aberrations m group I was attributed to a 58-year-old male with benzene myelopathy who had 30% chromatid type and 14% chromosome type of anomalies. A large number of his bone marrow metaphases exhibited blurred, sticky chromosomes with bridges of chromatin and fragments. The bone-marrow smears from the same specimens were hypoplastic with a slight increase in the number of myeloblasts and promyelocytes (4.5%). The band and segmented neutrophilic cells lacked specific granules in most cells.
It is concluded that the chromosome damaging effect of benzene may be useful for the evaluation of benzene intoxication, providing that other agents known to produce chromosome aberrations are ruled out. Serial cytogenetic studies on subjects exposed to benzene may contribute to the solution of the problem related to preleukaemia, as the incidence of acute leukeamia in persons exposed to benzene is about 20 times higher than expected.
Zusammenfassung
Es wurden 15 benzolexponierte Industriearbeiter und 14 Kontrollpersonen mittels des Routineblutkulturverfahrens untersucht. Untersuchungen im direkten Knochenmarkverfahren erfolgten bei 4 benzolexponierten Arbeitern sowie an 2 Kontrollpersonen. Die benzolexponierten Arbeiter wurden nach Dauer der Benzolexposition in 2 Gruppen eingeteilt. Die Gruppe I beinhaltet 7 Personen mit einer Expositionszeit zwischen 11 und 20 Jahren, die Gruppe II beinhaltet 8 Personen mit einer Expositionszeit zwischen 2 und 5 Jahren.
Die Aberrationen vom Chromatidtyp waren bei der Gruppe I mit 18,2% und bei der Gruppe II mit 15,0% (bzw. beide Gruppen 16,7%) gegenüber denen der Kontrollpersonen mit 13,2% erhöht. Die instabilen Chromosomenaberrationen zeigten bei der Gruppe I mit 2,3% und bei der Gruppe II mit 2,2% keine Unterschiede, dagegen waren sie gegenüber der Kontrollgruppe mit 0,3% signifikant hoch. Die stabilen Chromosomenaberrationen lagen in der Gruppe I bei 2,8%, in der Gruppe II bei 1,8%. Sie lagen mit einem Durchschnitt von 2,3% gegenüber den Kontrollen mit 0,2 % ebenfalls signifikant hoch. Die Gruppe I und II zeigen untereinander nur geringe Unterschiede. Von den 15 untersuchten Benzolarbeitern wies einer eine Benzolmyelopathie auf.
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Wesentliche Teile dieser Arbeit wurden von H. Khan als Dissertation der Medizinischen Fakultät der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a. M. vorgelegt.
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Khan, H., Khan, M.H. Cytogenetische Untersuchungen bei chronischer Benzolexposition. Arch. Toxikol. 31, 39–49 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330295
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330295