MINERAL FIBERS - CORRELATION BETWEEN OXIDIZING SURFACE-ACTIVITY AND DNA-BASE HYDROXYLATION

In relation to their potential genotoxic properties, the ability of in organic particles to induce activated species of oxygen with strong ox idative properties can be studied by various methods. In this study th e oxidative surface properties of 10 different natural and synthetic m ineral fibres were investigated by: (1) an electron paramagnetic reson ance technique in which formate was used to trap oxidative species; an d (2) a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) based method in which deoxyguanosine was used as a trapping agent and the formation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8 OHdG) was analysed. Ground iron-containing fibres such as crocidolite and amosite were the most reactive, wherea s fibres without iron-for example, ceramic fibres, xonotlite, and Tism o L-were completely inactive. A good correlation was found when the re sults from the two methods were compared (r = 0.86).