Environmental and Computational Chemistry Group, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia.
Sci Total Environ. 2012 Feb 1;416:208-14. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.11.080. Epub 2012 Jan 4.
Coal is a mixture of chemicals with the capacity of promoting biochemical changes that may lead to DNA damage. In this study, the comet assay in peripheral blood cells, and the micronucleus test in blood smears were used to evaluate potential genotoxic effects derived from exposure to coal mining activities on wild populations of Mus musculus and Iguana iguana. Four locations from Colombia were evaluated: La Loma and La Jagua de Ibirico, two municipalities located near coal mining fields at the Department of Cesar; and Valledupar and Arjona, cities used as reference sites, both localized at least 100 and 200km far from the mines, respectively. Compared to Valledupar and Arjona, animals collected in close proximity to coal mining areas showed highest percentages of DNA damage for both species, evidencing that living around coal mining fields may result in an increase of DNA lesions in blood cells of rodents and reptiles. The results for micronucleus test were conflicting. Mice from Arjona had greater number of cells with micronucleus than those from the other studied locations, probably as a result of infection found by blood parasites. In summary, it was demonstrated that animals living around coal mining areas have a greater chance of having DNA damage, as measured by the comet assay, than those from sites far from the coal dust source.
煤是一种化学物质的混合物，具有促进可能导致 DNA 损伤的生化变化的能力。在这项研究中，使用外周血细胞彗星试验和血涂片微核试验来评估煤矿开采活动对野生 Mus musculus 和 Iguana iguana 种群的潜在遗传毒性效应。评估了哥伦比亚的四个地点：拉洛马和拉哈瓜·德·伊比里科，这两个城镇位于塞萨尔省的煤矿场附近；以及巴耶杜帕尔和阿若纳，这两个城市被用作参照点，分别距离矿区至少 100 和 200 公里。与巴耶杜帕尔和阿若纳相比，在靠近煤矿区采集的动物表现出两种物种的 DNA 损伤百分比最高，这表明生活在煤矿区附近可能会导致啮齿动物和爬行动物的血细胞中 DNA 损伤增加。微核试验的结果存在矛盾。来自阿若纳的老鼠比来自其他研究地点的老鼠有更多带有微核的细胞，这可能是由于血液寄生虫感染所致。总之，研究表明，与远离煤尘源的地点相比，生活在煤矿区附近的动物更容易发生 DNA 损伤，这可以通过彗星试验来衡量。
