Genotoxic Effects of Tobacco Dust Exposure on Bidi Rollers
Dayashankar Gautam 1,
Asha Khanna 1, and Rita Bhandari 2
1 Dept. of Zoology & Biotechnology, St. Aloysius College (Autonomous), Jabalpur (M. P.)
2 Govt Model Science College (autonomous) Jabalpur (M. P.)
2 Govt Model Science College (autonomous) Jabalpur (M. P.)
Abstract—Bidi rolling is one of the largest cottage industries in India. Most of the rollers are women of low socioeconomic status who are exposed to bidi tobacco dust while working. Hence, this study deals with the assessment of genotoxicity in bidi rollers occupationally exposed to bidi tobacco dust in Jabalpur.The study deals with the detection of the level of genotoxicity in the subjects in order to prewarn the bidi rollers who showed more symptoms of genotoxicity so that they might take some precautions.The experimental data was collected and arranged according to age and exposure. The sample size was 34 for the bidi rollers and 30 for controls.The end points studied were chromosomal aberration assay using lymphocyte culture, comet assay with Trevigen’s (USA) Comet AssayTM Silver Kit and urinary thioether estimation according to Ellman’s spectrophotometric method. The Student’s t test was used for stastistical analysis of the data. Bidi rollers exposed to bidi tobacco dust expressed significantly increased chromosome aberration (CA) % 3.0 ± 0.63 and 3.7 ± 0.39 in 30-35 years and 60-65 years age groups when compared to age matched controls (1.3 ± 0.32 and 1.8 ± 0.24 respectively) at P < 0.05. Significantly higher excretion of urinary thioether (12.58 ± 2.17 μmol/mmolcreatinine) in > 30 year exposure group as compared to controls was found. The comet and tail length of bidi rollers also showed significant increase as compared to controls. Thus, the results indicated the elevation of genotoxicity in bidi rollers occupationally exposed to bidi tobacco dust as assessed by the above parameters.
Index Terms—genotoxicity, tobacco dust, chromosome aberration, comet assay, urinary thioether.
Cite: Dayashankar Gautam, Asha Khanna, and Rita Bhandari, "Genotoxic Effects of Tobacco Dust Exposure on Bidi Rollers," International Journal of Pharma Medicine and Biological Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 20-23, January 2015.