Evaluación del daño en el ADN en dos poblaciones colombianas de agricultores y floricultores

Some research results prove the potential genotoxic activity of pesticides on human beings, which makes the development of methodologies that allow the determination of capacity of these substances to damage the DNA necessary. The comet assay is an economic, rapid and sensitive method that allows to detect, mainly, single strand breaks and alkaly-labil sites in individual cells. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the DNA damage by means of the comet assay in populations engaged in floriculture and agriculture activities, with variable exposure to pesticides, compared with a control group. Peripheral blood samples from a total of 101 individuals were obtained. The comet assay was performed using total peripheral blood as well as isolated lymphocytes. For this procedure the samples were embedded in agarose and set on a microscope slide, exposed to a lyses solution with detergent and finally to electrophoresis with alkaline buffer. Measuring the length of the comet tail (DNA migration) and the morphology of the comets, the DNA damage was estimated. In the exposed farmers, the comet assay revealed a statistically significant increase in DNA damage (P<0.001) versus floriculturists and the control group, but no difference between these later two groups were observed. The results suggest that the comet assay could be a reliable biomarker for occupational exposure to pesticides and that it could also be useful for similar studies.