Personal samplers of bioavailable pesticides integrated with a hair follicle assay of DNA damage to assess environmental exposures and their associated risks in children

Abstract

Agriculture in the United States employs youth ages ten and older in work environments with high pesticide levels. Younger children in rural areas may also be affected by indirect pesticide exposures. The long-term effects of pesticides on health and development are difficult to assess and poorly understood. Yet, epidemiologic studies suggest associations with cancer as well as cognitive deficits. We report a practical and cost-effective approach to assess environmental pesticide exposures and their biological consequences in children. Our approach combines silicone wristband personal samplers and DNA damage quantification from hair follicles, and was tested as part of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project involving ten Latino children from farmworker households in North Carolina. Our study documents high acceptance among Latino children and their caregivers of these noninvasive sampling methods. The personal samplers detected organophosphates, organochlorines, and pyrethroids in the majority of the participants (70%, 90%, 80%, respectively). Pesticides were detected in all participant samplers, with an average of 6.2 ± 2.4 detections/participant sampler. DNA damage in epithelial cells from the sheath and bulb of plucked hairs follicles was quantified by immunostaining 53BP1-labled DNA repair foci. This method is sensitive, as shown by dose response analyses to γ radiations where the lowest dose tested (0.1 Gy) led to significant increased 53BP1 foci density. Immunolabeling of DNA repair foci has significant advantages over the comet assay in that specific regions of the follicles can be analyzed. In this cohort of child participants, significant association was found between the number of pesticide detections and DNA damage in the papilla region of the hairs. We anticipate that this monitoring approach of bioavailable pesticides and genotoxicity will enhance our knowledge of the biological effects of pesticides to guide education programs and safety policies.

A Case Study Describing a Community-Engaged Approach for Evaluating Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure in a Native American Community

“…One of the CEC’s primary goals is to reduce environmental disparities experienced by Pacific Northwest Tribes by developing collaborative community-engaged research between Oregon State University Superfund Research Program scientists and Tribes. The SITC invited the CEC to collaborate on air toxic monitoring projects that included using silicone passive sampling wristbands to measure personal chemical exposures [7,8,9]. This exposure assessment method is non-invasive, simple to use, and provides individual time-averaged exposure data [10,11,12,13].…”

Analysis of brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, organophosphate esters, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in silicone wristbands used as personal passive samplers

“…As passive samplers, silicone wristbands work by chemical diffusion (absorption) of an environmental contaminant into the polymer of the silicone over time [4]. They were first introduced by O'Connell et al [5] in 2014 to assess exposure in an occupational setting, but have since been used in several studies, ranging from assessment of pesticide exposure among farmers in West Africa [6] and Peru [7] and flame retardant exposure among preschool children in the United States [4,8,9], to assessment of volatile organic chemicals emanating from the surface of human skin [10]. These studies have demonstrated that a commercial silicone wristband, worn by study participants, offers a non-invasive and simple way to quantify personal exposure to multiple chemicals from multiple microenvironments and within a multiday time period.…”

“…To date, silicone wristbands have been employed in a small number of studies to measure polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [5], polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and novel flame retardants (NFRs) [4,13], organophosphate esters (OPEs) [12], and pesticides [6,9]. However, these previous studies on wristbands were limited to one group of compounds or to qualitative analysis.…”

Non-target toxicity of novel insecticides

“…Many studies have assessed the links between residential and occupational exposure to pyrethroids and potential health effects. Vidi et al (179) reported a significant association between bifenthrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, cis-and trans-permethrin and DNA damage in the hair of residentially exposed children in farmer households. An observational study using data from poison control centres reported that the second most common pesticide group by exposure frequency were pyrethroids, and children aged ≤5 years were the group most at risk of exposure (180).…”