Ž . Mutation Research 419 1998 123–130 Cytogenetic biomonitoring of workers exposed to bitumen fumes Sema Burgaz ) , Onur Erdem, Bensu Karahalil, Ali Esat Karakaya Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi UniÕersity, Hipodrom, 06330 Ankara, Turkey Received 26 May 1998; revised 16 September 1998; accepted 16 September 1998 Abstract Ž . Bitumen samples and fumes consist essentially of polycyclic hydrocarbons PAH and their derivatives, some of which are known to be carcinogenic or co-carcinogenic in animals. The level of total PAH is low when compared with coal-tar products. There is very limited data on possible health risk from exposure to bitumen fumes in workers. In this study, Ž . Ž . Ž . sister-chromatid exchange SCE , micronuclei MN and high frequency of SCE cells HFCs were determined for 28 Ž . workers exposed to bitumen fumes and 28 control subjects. Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene 1-OHP excretion was used as a biomarker of occupational exposure to PAH. The mean value of 1-OHP excretion of workers was 0.78 "0.46 mmolrmol Ž . creatinine and for controls 0.52 "0.44 mmolrmol creatinine p -0.05 . The mean values of SCE per cell and the Ž . frequency ‰ of MN in peripheral lymphocytes from the workers and controls were 5.13 "0.64, 4.71 "0.67, and Ž . 2.25 "0.42, 1.79 "0.32 respectively p -0.05, p -0.0001 . The mean value of HFCs for workers and controls were Ž . 7.85 "2.3 and 7.05 "3.16, respectively p )0.05 . Our data reveal that bitumen fumes during road paving operations are absorbed by workers and that bitumen fume exposure is able to significantly induce cytogenetic damage in peripheral lymphocytes of workers after controlling some possible confounding factors, such as age, sex and smoking habits. q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Occupational exposure; Bitumen fume; 1-Hydroxypyrene; SCE; MN; HFC 1. Introduction Bitumens are obtained as residual from nonde- structive vacuum distillation of crude petroleum oil. Ž A total of 90 to 95% of bitumen is used hot ) . 1008C in road construction, roofing and flooring. Fumes from these operations contain polycyclic aro- Ž . matic hydrocarbons PAHs . In bitumen-based as- phalt fumes, PAHs were found in concentrations two to three orders of magnitude less than in coal-tar wx fumes 1 . Studies on bitumen fume condensates ) Corresponding author. Tel.: q90-312-215-01-05; Fax: q90- 312-222-23-26 wx showed weak to moderate mutagenic activities 1, but a recent in vitro study on DNA adduct formation indicated that bitumen fume condensates induced significant amounts of DNA adducts and that these levels are higher than would be expected based on wx the PAH content 2 . IARC evaluated the evidence for carcinogenicity wx wx of bitumens in 1984 3 and 1987 4 . Extracts of steam-refined and air-refined bitumens were classi- Ž fied as possible human carcinogens IARC Group . 2B . However, for undiluted bitumens, either steam- refined, air-refined, or cracking residue were not Ž classifiable as to human carcinogenicity IARC . Group 3 . 1383-5718r98r$ - see front matter q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S1383-5718 98 00136-3