Comet Test in Saliva Leukocytes of Pre-School Children Exposed to Air Pollution in North Italy: The Respira Study

Claudia Zani, Elisabetta Ceretti, Ilaria Zerbini, Gaia Claudia Viviana Viola, Francesco Donato, Umberto Gelatti and Donatella Feretti
Additional contact information
Claudia Zani: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, 11 Viale Europa, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Elisabetta Ceretti: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, 11 Viale Europa, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Ilaria Zerbini: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, 11 Viale Europa, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Gaia Claudia Viviana Viola: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, 11 Viale Europa, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Francesco Donato: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, 11 Viale Europa, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Umberto Gelatti: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, 11 Viale Europa, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Donatella Feretti: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, 11 Viale Europa, 25123 Brescia, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-11

Abstract: Air pollution is a well-known problem for human health, especially for children living in highly polluted urban areas. This study aimed to assess the relationship between airborne pollutants concentration and biomarkers of DNA damage in the buccal mucosa cells of pre-school children. DNA damage was investigated with comet test in saliva leukocytes taken from sputum of 3- to 6-year-old children living in Brescia, Northern Italy, collected during two consecutive winter seasons (2012–2013). The daily levels of PM10, PM2.5, NO 2 , CO, SO 2 , benzene and O 3 in urban air were collected for the whole period. A questionnaire filled in by the children’s parents was used to evaluate indoor and outdoor exposure. DNA damage in saliva leukocytes was evaluated in 152 children and the means of tail intensity and visual score as DNA damage were 6.2 ± 4.3 and 182.1 ± 30.9, respectively. No demographic and indoor or outdoor exposure variable was associated with the two measures of DNA damage. No significant association between air pollution and DNA damage in children’s buccal leukocytes was found. In this study, the comet assay does not appear to be a valuable biomarker to detect DNA damage in children exposed to high levels of air pollutants, such as PM10, PM2.5 and NO 2 .

Keywords: children; early biological effects; DNA damage; comet assay; mucosa buccal cells; saliva leukocytes; urban air pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3276/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3276/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:9:p:3276-:d:355219

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().