Objective To evaluate the effects of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and its metabolite tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) on comet tail moment of lymphocytes in human peripheral blood.
Methods Employees (n=100) from eight gas stations were enrolled in an epidemiological cross-sectional study.Serum and lymphocytes were isolated from the peripheral venous blood sample (5 mL) of each subject,and analyzed for the content of serum MTBE and TBA using gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and the Olive tail moment (OTM) of lymphocytes by comet assay.Univariate and multivariate non-conditional logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the effects of MTBE and TBA on OTM of human lymphocytes.
Results The results of univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the contents of MTBE and TBA in serum,type of work,drinking,smoking,average number of cigarettes smoked per day,and smoking index,were associated with the OTM of lymphocytes (P < 0.05).The results of multivariate non-conditional logistic regression analysis showed that serum MTBE content and type of work were associated with the OTM of lymphocytes,and the values of odds ratio (OR) were 4.155(95% CI:2.279-7.577) and 6.949(1.305-36.990),respectively (both P < 0.05).
Conclusion MTBE shows an obvious effect on the OTM of human peripheral blood lymphocytes,and may have genetic toxicity to human body.
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