Occupational Exposure to Petroleum Workers by Assessing Urinary Methyl Hippuric Acid and Micronuclei in Oral Mucosa Cell Doddawad Vidya Gowdappa1,*, Ayas Mohamad2, Gurupadayya B.M.3 1Associate Professor, Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, JSS Dental College and Hospital, A Constituent College of JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, 2Student, Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, JSS Dental College and Hospital, 3Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, JSS College of Pharmacy, Mysuru *Corresponding Author: Dr. Vidya G.D. Associate Professor, Department of oral Pathology and Microbiology, JSS Dental College and Hospital, (A Constituent College of JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research), Mysuru-570015, Karnataka e-mail: drvidyagd@gmail.com, Phone No.: +91 9343830621/9343322433
Online published on 31 March, 2020. Abstract Xylene is an important component of petrol and 98% of Xylene is derived from the petroleum refining industries. When human get expose to xylene, which is one of the major genotoxicant, which may induce with a range of acute/chronic diseases but occurrence of cancer is still not available in literature. Taking into our mind that our study aims to investigate and correlate the micronuclei in exfoliated oral epithelial cells with urinary methylhippuric acid level estimation among petrol pump workers. Aims & Objectives To evaluate occupational exposure of xylene in petrol pump workers by assessing urinary methylhippuric acid level. To determine the correlation between the level of urinary methylhippuric acid and the micronuclei of exfoliated epithelial cells of buccal mucosa.
Materials and Method Urine samples and oral buccal mucosa smears were collected from 30 healthy individual (control) and 30 petroleum pump workers (case) working in petroleum station. The urinary methylhippuric acid (MHA) level was analysed by using Shimadzu UV-Visible Spectrophotometer procedure. The smeared slides were stained with PAP stain and analyse the micronuclei of exfoliated epithelial cells by using Axio Vision SE64 Rel 4.9.1. Ink Software. Results The urinary Methylhippuric acid level was substantially higher in cases than in controls (p<0.001). The Micronuclei (MN) frequency was drastically increased in cases than in controls and was statistically highly significant (P<0.0001). The frequency of MN gradually increased along with increased urinary MHA level in petroleum pump workers. Conclusion The urinary MHA level and MN frequency is a useful index to recognize the occupational exposure to the petroleum product. Thus, our study emphasizes that appropriate precaution and regular bio-monitoring must be taken among petrol pump workers which shall help to reduce their potential levels of risk associated with the occupation. Top Keywords Xylene, Exfoliated buccal cells, Micronuclei, Occupational Exposure, Urine Methylhippuric acid level. Top |