Results of buccal micronucleus cytome assay in pesticide-exposed and non-exposed group.

Since many different pesticides have been used occupationally, there have been inconsistent results regarding DNA damages among greenhouse workers. Thus, the aim of the study is to evaluate DNA damages, cell death, and chromosomal instability by using the buccal micronucleus cytome (BMcyt) assay in greenhouse workers and to compare those with a non-exposed group. The BMcyt assay was applied to the exfoliated buccal cell samples collected from 66 pesticide-exposed and 50 non-exposed individuals. We evaluated the frequency of micronucleus (MN), nuclear bud (NBUD), binucleated (BN) cells, and karyolitic (KL), pyknotic (PY), and karyorrhectic (KH) cells. The results showed that the MN, BN, PY, and KH frequencies of the pesticide-exposed group were significantly higher than those of the controls (P ˂ 0.05, P ˂ 0.05, P ˂ 0.01, and P ˂ 0.05, respectively). We observed that the MN, BN, PY, and KH frequencies in the autumn were statistically different compared with those in the control group (P = 0.037 for MN, P = 0.001 for BN, P = 0.016 for PY, and P = 0.033 for KH). The same comparison was done in the spring for the control, and there was a statistically significant difference for MN (P = 0.046) and PY (P = 0.014). We can conclude that pesticide exposure in greenhouse workers was one of the factors that altered DNA damages, cell death, and chromosomal instability in oral mucosa cells.