Ad. Tates et al., BIOLOGICAL EFFECT MONITORING IN INDUSTRIAL-WORKERS FOLLOWING INCIDENTAL EXPOSURE TO HIGH-CONCENTRATIONS OF ETHYLENE-OXIDE, Mutation research, 329(1), 1995, pp. 63-77
Peripheral blood from four groups of seven workers from a chemical man
ufacturing plane in The Netherlands was analyzed for hemoglobin adduct
s in erythrocytes and for hprt mutants, micronuclei and SCEs in lympho
cytes. Group I workers were incidentally exposed to acute high doses o
f ethylene oxide ranging from 52 to 785 mg/m(3). Group II and III work
ers were chronically exposed to low doses of ethylene oxide for < 5 ye
ars or > 15 years respectively. Group IV workers served as unexposed c
ontrols and came from the Occupational Health Department. Hemoglobin a
dduct levels in group I workers were very high and ranged from 1461 to
19913 pmol HOEtVal/g Hb approximately 1 month after the accident. HOE
tVal values for group II and III workers fluctuated between 0 and 190
pmol/g Hb corresponding with average EtO exposure levels in the range
of < 0.01 and 0.06 mg/m(3) EtO. The statistical analysis of the geneti
c data did not reveal any statistically significant differences betwee
n any combination of worker groups. The genetic tests for group I work
ers were performed on blood samples collected 89-180 days after the in
cidental exposure. The absence of enhanced frequencies of mutations, m
icronuclei and SCEs suggests that significant induction of hprt mutati
ons in vivo did not occur and that persistent preclastogenic lesions w
ere not present in significant amounts when the exposed lymphocytes we
re put in culture to visualize any induced cytogenetic damage. This fi
nding implies that the incidental exposure to high concentrations of E
tO did not cause any measurable permanent mutational/cytogenetic damag
e in exposed lymphocytes.