Preliminary in vitro investigation into the use of alkaline elution assay for the biomonitoring of humans exposed to genotoxic agents.

1. This in vitro study was undertaken as a preliminary approach before assessing whether the alkaline elution assay can be applied to peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) for the monitoring of humans exposed to genotoxic agents such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). We have compared in vitro, with the aid of the alkaline elution assay, the formation and the repair of DNA single-strand breaks (ssb) induced by different genotoxic agents [gamma-irradiation, ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS), benzopyrene diol epoxide (BPDE)] on quiescent and PHA-stimulated human lymphocytes and on a fibroblast cell line. 2. Gamma-irradiation (4 Gy) induced an equivalent amount of DNA ssb in the three cell types. On the other hand, after treatment with EMS (10 mM) and BPDE (50 microM), a higher production of DNA ssb was observed in replicating cells (PHA-stimulated lymphocytes and fibroblasts) when compared with quiescent lymphocytes. 3. After gamma-irradiation, all cell types repaired more than 65% of ssb within 1 h. After treatment with EMS, we noted a deficient DNA repair capacity in quiescent lymphocytes in comparison with replicating cells. In all cell types treated with BPDE, more breaks were observed after a 2 h repair period than immediately after treatment, demonstrating the involvement of a slow repair mechanism after BPDE treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)