Objective To study the relationship between neurobehavioral changes and Parkin gene polymorphism in workers exposed to Mn.
Methods A group of 200 Mn exposed workers having working age ≥ 0.5 year were assigned as high exposure or low exposure group according to their Mn cumulative exposure index (CEI), and another 94 workers without Mn exposure were treated as controls. Every worker was evaluated by groove type steadiness test and pegboard test for neurobehavioral changes. The genetic DNA was extracted from every worker, and the genotypes of exon 7 polymorphism were detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).
Results In the high exposure group, the subjects with CC genotype of exon 7 were significantly lower in the length of drawing and the scores of pegboard test than those with GG and GC genotypes (P < 0.05); however, their collision frequencies were significantly higher (P < 0.05). In the low exposure group, the subjects with CC genotype of exon 7 were also significantly lower in the length of drawing and the scores of pegboard test than those with GG and GC genotypes (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in the collision frequency (P > 0.05). In the control group, no significant difference in the neurobehavioral performances were found among subjects with different genotypes of exon 7 (P > 0.05).
Conclusion The combined effect of environmental and genetic factors may contribute to the neurobehavioral changes induced by Mn. Workers with CC genotype of exon 7 are susceptible to health impacts induced by Mn. The Gly284Arg polymorphism of exon 7 of Parkin gene shows the potential to be an indicator for manganese induced neurobehavioral changes and for risk assessment of manganese poisoning.
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