Antioxidants and vitamins in clinical conditions

Various reactive oxygen species (ROS) may be produced from normal biochemical, essential metabolic processes or from external sources as exposure to a variety of agents presented in the environment. Lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and DNA are all capable of reacting with ROS and can be implicated in etiology of various human disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, reperfusion injury, atherosclerosis, lung diseases etc.). In the organism damage by ROS is counteracted with natural antioxidants (glutathione peroxidases, superoxide dismutases, catalase, glutathione, ubiquinol, uric acid, and essential minerals) and nutritional antioxidants from diet (i.e. vitamins E, C, carotenoids). Possible mechanisms of nutritional depletion and side effects of high intake are in the article described.

The role of various biomarkers in the evaluation of styrene genotoxicity

We evaluated our data on the occupational exposure to styrene in lamination workers. The battery of parameters included markers of external and internal exposure and biomarkers of biological effects and susceptibility. DNA repair capacities have been determined in both exposed and control groups. Styrene workplace concentration significantly correlated with styrene concentration in blood, exhaled air and urinary mandelic acid. Haemoglobin and O(6)-styrene oxide (SO)-guanine DNA adducts were significantly higher in exposed subjects as compared to controls and correlated with exposure parameters. In styrene-exposed workers 1-SO-adenine DNA adducts were detected (2.6 per 10(9) dNp), while in controls these adducts were below the detection limit. 1-SO-adenine adduct levels were affected by both acute and cumulative exposure (P=0.001, F=86.0 and P=0.017, F=59.0, respectively) and associated with cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) polymorphisms (R(2)=0.442). Mutant frequencies (MF) at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) locus appeared to accumulate with exposure over time and were associated with glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) polymorphism. DNA repair capacity increased with the exposure, except for the group exposed to the highest styrene concentration. In this particular group, increased DNA repair capacity to remove oxidative DNA damage was found.

DNA adducts, strand breaks and micronuclei in mice exposed to styrene by inhalation

Genotoxic and clastogenic effects of styrene were studied in mice. Male NMRI mice were exposed by inhalation to styrene in concentrations of 750 and 1500 mg/m3 for 21, 7, 3 and 1 days (6 h/day, 7 days/week). Followed parameters included styrene in blood, specific styrene oxide (SO) induced DNA adducts, DNA strand breaks and micronuclei. The formation of SO induced 7-SO-guanines and 1-SO-adenines in DNA was analysed from lung tissues by two versions of the 32P-postlabeling technique. In lungs after 21 days of exposure to 1500 mg/m3 the level of 7-SO-guanine was 23.0+/-11.9 adducts/10(8) normal nucleotides, while 1-SO-adenine was detected at the levels of 0.6+/-0.2 adducts/10(8) normal nucleotides. Both 7-SO-guanines and 1-SO-adenines strongly correlated with exposure parameters, particularly with styrene concentration in blood (r=0.875, P=0.0002 and r=0.793, P=0.002, respectively). DNA breaks were measured in peripheral lymphocytes, bone marrow cells and liver cells using comet assay. To discern oxidative damage and abasic sites, endonuclease III was used. In bone marrow of exposed mice slight increase of strand breaks can be detected after 7 days of inhalation. A significant increase was revealed in the endonuclease III-sensitive sites after 21 days of inhalation in bone marrow. In the liver cells inhalation exposure to both concentrations of styrene did not virtually affect either levels of DNA single-strand breaks or endonuclease III-sensitive sites. The inhalation of 1500 mg/m3 of styrene induced significant increase of micronuclei after 7 days of exposure (10.4+/-2.5/1000 cells, i.e. twice higher micronuclei frequency than in controls). After 21 days of inhalation no significant difference between the control group and the two exposed groups was observed. Whether the decrease of micronuclei after 21 days of inhalation was due to the inhibition of cell proliferation caused by styrene or due to the natural elimination of chromatide fragments, remains to be clarified. An interesting link has been found between DNA single-strand breaks in bone marrow and frequencies of micronuclei (r=0.721, P=0.028).

7-Alkylguanine adducts of styrene oxide determined by 32P-postlabeling in DNA and human embryonal lung fibroblasts (HEL)

The modified 32P-postlabeling method was used for the detection of N-7-(2-hydroxy-phenylethyl) guanine adducts in DNA and human embryonal lung (HEL) cells treated in vitro with styrene oxide (SO). The total recovery of 7-alkylguanine adducts of styrene oxide in DNA analysed by 32P-postlabeling assay was 4.1 +/- 0.6%. The disappearance of 7-alkyldeoxyguanosine monophosphate adducts from SO-modified DNA at 37 degrees C showed a half-life of 19 h. The levels of 7-alkylguanine DNA adducts and single-strand breaks (SSBs) in DNA were determined in HEL cells treated with SO for 3 and 18 h. In the 3 h treatment there was a concentration-dependent increase of both 7-alkylguanine adducts and SSBs in DNA (r = 0.98, P = 0.012 and r = 0.99, P = 0.003, respectively). We found a significant correlation between 7-alkylguanine DNA adducts and SSBs in DNA (r = 0.98, P = 0.011). In HEL cells approximately 3-fold higher levels of both 7-alkylguanine DNA adducts and SSB in DNA were found after the SO (100 microM) treatment for 3 h than after the treatment for 18 h. A significant concentration-dependent increase was found only for SSB ( r = 0.95, P = 0.024) in the 18 h treatment with SO. There was no significant correlation between 7-alkylguanine adducts and SSBs (r = 0.72, P = 0.15). Our data suggest relatively fast removal of both 7-alkylguanine adducts of SO and DNA SSBs.