GENOTOXICITY OF WOOD DUST IN A HUMAN EMBRYONIC LUNG-CELL LINE

Wood dust exposure has been found to be an occupational hazard, being linked to an enhanced incidence of various neoplasias. Here we perform ed an experiment to evaluate the ability of solvent extracts of natura l woods to induce chromosome aberrations in respiratory cells in cultu re. Human embryonic lung cells, MRC-5, grown in Dolbecco's medium were exposed to various concentrations of the dust extracts of pesticide-f ree (untreated) beech, oak and pine woods. Three concentrations per ex tract with and without metabolic activation (S9) and 100 metaphase cel ls per dose were examined for possible structural aberrations. Althoug h no dose-dependent activity could be found with any extract in the pr esence of S9, most aberrations observed were of the chromatid type cau sed by oak wood. Dose-dependent chromosomal breaks caused by oak and c hromatid breaks caused by both beech and oak were observed in the abse nce of S9. These data might support the early hypothesis that hard woo d dust per se contains some in vivo genotoxic and thus possibly carcin ogenic components.