Purpose: The evaluation of the association between different exposure to pesticides and different types of comet images among a group of 26 recruited subject.
Material and methods: We have recruited 26 subjects (farmers and not farmers). They were submitted to a blood drawing of 10 mL and a questionnaire was administered to investigate personal habits and work history. By means of the comet assay it was assessed the oxidative DNA damage of peripheral lymphocytes by pesticides in the exposed and non-exposed workers.
Result: The data measured by means of the comet were log transformed and the associations (odds ratios - ORs) with the single pesticides were calculated. The regression analysis shows a significant dose effects relationships between the Intensity Score of pesticides exposures tail moment (TM) and other measured parameters. Insecticides TM OR = 17.00 [1.47 - 196.41]. This relationship is independent from the smoking habits.
Conclusions: TM values higher than the 75° percentile were significantly associated with the exposure to particular insecticides such as chlorpyriphos, deltamethrin and with other pesticides (near the statistical significance).
Keywords: Chlorpyrifos; comet assay; copper oxicloride; deltamethrin; lymphocytes; penconazole; pesticides.