Cytogenetic, DNA-repair and Apoptosis Studies in Hospital Nurses’ Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes Occupationally Exposed to Volatile Anesthetic Gases

Background: Health professionals chronically exposed to anesthetic gases in the operating rooms are at higher risk of lung diseases, hematological, immunological and reproductive alterations. Anesthetic gas exposure often exceeds the safety limits, especially in the case of pediatric anesthetists, or when no proper ventilation has been installed in operating theaters. In the present study we assessed the health risk among anesthetics exposed nurses and measured genotoxicological parameters in the presence or absence of confounding factors such as smoking. Methods: The investigations were carried out in 128 subjects exposed to anesthetic gases from health services. The data were compared to 137 healthy, non-exposed controls. The measured biomarkers were: clinical laboratory routine tests, completed with genotoxicological (chromosome aberrations and sisterchromatid exchange, DNA repair and apoptosis) monitoring system. The exposed group was divided into Halothane and Non-Halothane exposed subgroups to compare the differences within exposures. Results: In the group of health personnel exposed to anesthetic gases, we did not find significant changes in the frequency of chromosome aberrations. Sister-chromatide exchange rates in Halothane exposed and control smokers was increased, compared to nonsmokers. We also found a decrease of apoptosis and inhibition of UV induced DNA repair capacity compared to controls. The exposed individuals had high incidences of malignant diseases (9.3%) mainly breast, skin, and colon cancers. Conclusion: Low level of cytogenetic changes may be related to the decreased apoptotic rate of peripheral blood lymphocytes due to the low risk of misrepair from a decreased DNA-repair capacity. Our results suggest that our biomarkers can be useful in tracking occupational/environmental genotoxic effects among anesthetic gases exposed personnel.