Ledda Caterina, Cocuzza Salvatore, Salerno Monica, Senia Paola, Matera Serena, Rapisarda Venerando, Loreto Carla
Section of Occupational Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Section of Otolaryngology, Department Medical Sciences, Surgical and Advanced Technologies 'G.F. Ingrassia', University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Mol Med Rep. 2017 May;15(5):3350-3354. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2017.6380. Epub 2017 Mar 24.
Basalt and volcanic ash are natural constituents of the ground surrounding volcanic areas such as Mount Etna. The dust may be daily inhaled by the general population as well as by several types of workers, such as construction workers. In this experiment, we analyzed the potential mutagenic and cytotoxic effects of the materials used in construction industry, excavated from Mt. Etna. Ground basalt (A), volcanic ash (B), mixed basalt and cement (C) and cement (D) were studied with Ames test, for mutagenic assessment and with MMT assay for cytotoxic evaluation. The Ames test revealed that cement (sample D), showed a higher and significant mutagenicity than the samples A, B and C. MTT assay showed that samples C and D had a slightly more negative impact on cell viability than A and B. In conclusion, no particular risks seem to exist for construction industry workers, while the exploitation of cement and cement mixed with basalt seems to be a risk for workers, given the high percentage of silica and iron.
玄武岩和火山灰是埃特纳火山等火山区周围地面的天然成分。普通人群以及建筑工人等几类工人可能每天都会吸入这些粉尘。在本实验中，我们分析了从埃特纳火山挖掘的建筑行业所用材料的潜在诱变和细胞毒性作用。采用艾姆斯试验研究了玄武岩粉（A）、火山灰（B）、玄武岩与水泥混合物（C）和水泥（D）的诱变性，并采用MTT法评估其细胞毒性。艾姆斯试验表明，水泥（样品D）的诱变性显著高于样品A、B和C。MTT试验表明，样品C和D对细胞活力的负面影响略大于A和B。总之，建筑行业工人似乎不存在特别风险，而鉴于水泥和与玄武岩混合的水泥中二氧化硅和铁的含量较高，开采这些材料对工人来说似乎存在风险。
