Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are present in several working activities. This work is aimed at comparing oxidative stress and DNA damage biomarkers to specific VOCs in the occupational exposure of painters. Dose-response relationships between biomarkers of oxidative stress and of dose were studied. Unmetabolized VOCs and their urinary metabolites were analyzed. Urinary Methylhyppuric acids (MHIPPs, xylenes metabolite), Phenylglyoxylic and Mandelic acid (PGA, MA ethylbenzene metabolites), S-Benzylmercapturic acid (SBMA, toluene metabolite), and S-Phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA, benzene metabolite) were quantified at the end of work-shift. Oxidative stress was determined by: urinary excretion of 8-oxodGuo, 8-oxoGua and 8-oxoGuo and direct/oxidative DNA damage in blood by Fpg-Comet assay. Multivariate linear regression models were used to assess statistical significance of the association between dose and effect biomarkers. The regressions were studied with and without the effect of hOGG1 and XRCC1 gene polymorphisms. Statistically significant associations were found between MHIPPs and both 8-oxoGuo and oxidative DNA damage effect biomarkers measured with the Comet assay. Oxidative DNA damage results significantly associated with airborne xylenes and toluene, whilst 8-oxodGuo was significantly related to urinary xylenes and toluene. Direct DNA damage was significantly associated to SBMA. XRCC1 wild-type gene polymorphism was significantly associated with lower oxidative and total DNA damage with respect to heterozygous and mutant genotypes. The interpretation of the results requires some caution, as the different VOCs are all simultaneously present in the mixture and correlated among them.
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