PERSISTENCE OF O-6-GUANINE DNA-ADDUCTS IN STYRENE-EXPOSED LAMINATION WORKERS DETERMINED BY P-32 POSTLABELING

A modified P-32-postlabelling method was used for the detection of sty rene-specific DNA adducts in lamination workers. The persistence of O- 6-styrene DNA adducts was studied in DNA from lymphocytes and granuloc ytes of an exposed and a control group. We compared O-6-adduct levels obtained from a sampling prior to vacation, after 2 weeks of vacation and after an additional 1 month of work. In granulocytes, there was no significant difference in adduct levels between the control and the e xposed groups in any individual samplings. In lymphocytes of laminator s the detected adduct levels were significantly higher (5.4 adducts/10 (8) nucleotides) than those in the controls (1.0 adduct/10(8) nucleoti des). The 2 week interruption of exposure did not influence the total O-6-adduct level (4.9 adducts/10(8) nucleotides in the first sampling versus 5.1 adducts/10(8) nucleotides in the second), indicating very s low removal of the specific O-6-styrene adducts from DNA.