Esteves Filipa, Slezakova Klara, Madureira Joana, Vaz Josiana, Fernandes Adília, Morais Simone, do Carmo Pereira Maria, Teixeira João Paulo, Costa Solange
Environmental Health Department, National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, n° 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal.
EPIUnit-Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas, n° 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal.
Toxics. 2024 Mar 5;12(3):201. doi: 10.3390/toxics12030201.
The characterization of wildland firefighters' occupational exposure must consider different exposures, including those at the fire station. The present study aimed to characterize the occupational exposure of 172 Northern Portuguese wildland firefighters in fire stations during the pre-wildfire season of 2021. The biological impact of estimated inhaled doses of PM and PM (indoor/outdoor) was accessed through a buccal micronucleus cytome (BMCyt) assay in exfoliated buccal cells of a subgroup of 80 firefighters. No significant association was found between estimated inhaled doses of PM and PM (mean 1.73 ± 0.43 µg kg and 0.53 ± 0.21 µg kg, respectively) and biological endpoints. However, increased frequencies of cell death parameters were found among subjects of the Permanent Intervention Teams (full-time firefighters). The intake of nutritional supplements was associated with a significant decrease in micronucleus frequencies (i.e., DNA damage or chromosome breakage). In addition, our findings showed a significantly increased frequency of cell death endpoints (i.e., nuclear fragmentation) with coffee consumption, while daily consumption of vegetables significantly decreased it (i.e., nuclear shrinkage). Our results provide data on the occupational exposure of wildland firefighters while working in fire stations during the pre-wildfire season, providing the essential baseline for further studies throughout the wildfire season.
对野外消防员职业暴露的特征描述必须考虑不同的暴露情况，包括在消防站的暴露。本研究旨在描述2021年野火季节前，172名葡萄牙北部野外消防员在消防站的职业暴露情况。通过对80名消防员亚组的脱落颊细胞进行口腔微核细胞检测（BMCyt），评估估计吸入剂量的颗粒物（PM）和室内/室外PM的生物学影响。在估计吸入剂量的PM和PM（分别为平均1.73±0.43µg/kg和0.53±0.21µg/kg）与生物学终点之间未发现显著关联。然而，在永久干预小组（全职消防员）的受试者中发现细胞死亡参数频率增加。营养补充剂的摄入与微核频率显著降低相关（即DNA损伤或染色体断裂）。此外，我们的研究结果显示，喝咖啡会显著增加细胞死亡终点频率（即核碎裂），而每天食用蔬菜会显著降低该频率（即核固缩）。我们的结果提供了野火季节前野外消防员在消防站工作时职业暴露的数据，为整个野火季节的进一步研究提供了重要的基线。
