Assessment of oxidative status and genotoxicity in photocopier operators: a pilot study

Abstract

Occupational exposure to photocopiers has been indicated as being responsible for a number of health complaints, particularly effects on the respiratory, immunological, and nervous systems. In this study, we investigated oxidative and genotoxic damage in photocopier operators by assessing catalase activity (CAT), reduced vs. oxidized glutathione ratio (GSH/GSSG), level of lipid peroxidation (TBARS), damage index by Comet assay (DICA), and buccal cells with micronuclei (BCMN). Our results reveal that the TBARS levels in operators were increased (27%; p<0.05) but that no significant alterations to GSH/GSSG or CAT activity were observed. The DICA and the number of BCMN were significantly increased (134% and 100%, respectively; p<0.05) in the exposed group. There was a significant association between the time in months spent at work and DNA damage in lymphocytes (r(s) = 0.720; p<0.001) and buccal cell with MN (r(s) = 0.538; p<0.001). Because laser printers and photocopiers have become increasingly used, it is important to control human exposure using reliable biomarkers.

Toxicological effects of PM0.25–2.0particles collected from a photocopy center in three human cell lines

“…Several recent studies of a modest size focusing on photocopy employees frequently report increased biomarkers of oxidative stress and genotoxicity measured in different biological media (e.g. lymphocytes, buccal cells) relative to controls (Balakrishnan & Das, 2010;Gadhia et al, 2005;Goud et al, 2004;Kleinsorge et al, 2011;Manikantan et al, 2010). Two interesting case reports suggest photocopier emissions may be related to autoimmune diseases such as anti-phospholipid syndrome (Bar-Sela & Shoenfeld, 2008) and other extra pulmonary effects (Theegarten et al, 2010).…”

Effects of copy center particles on the lungs: a toxicological characterization using aBalb/cmouse model

“…While the exact toxicological pathway for the observed biological responses is unknown, the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is likely to play a central role in lung injury and inflammation, as suggested by recent in vitro studies with toner particles (Gminski et al, 2011, Kleinsorge et al, 2011, Tang et al, 2012a). Likewise, (Khatri et al, 2012) found a notable increase in levels of 8-OH-dG in the urine of humans exposed to photocopier emissions, indicating increased systemic oxidative stress.…”

“…For instance, one study showed there was extensive oxidative and DNA damage, as measured by the micronuclei and Comet assays, in buccal and white blood cells of photocopier operators. The damage was directly proportional to the time operators spent at work (Kleinsorge et al, 2011). Moreover, several recent studies on cohorts of photocopy employees have found elevated biomarkers of DNA damage compared with controls (Goud et al, 2004, Patel et al, 2005, Balakrishnan and Das, 2010, Manikantan et al, 2010).…”

Occupational exposure to nanoparticles at commercial photocopy centers

“…Since 2004 studies of photocopy employees have reported increased biomarkers of oxidative stress and genotoxicity measured in different biological media (e.g., lymphocytes, buccal cells) relative to controls [6][7][8][9][10][11]. A recent study conducted by our group documented upper airway inflammation and systemic oxidative stress in human volunteers at realistic exposure levels [7], which were substantiated with a series of in-vitro studies in human primary cell lines [12,13] and instillation studies in mice [14].…”