Environmental Pollution 2013-10-01

Effect of long-term human exposure to environmental heavy metals on the expression of detoxification and DNA repair genes.

Saleh A Al Bakheet, Ibraheem M Attafi, Zaid H Maayah, Adel R Abd-Allah, Yousif A Asiri, Hesham M Korashy

Index: Environ. Pollut. 181 , 226-32, (2013)

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Abstract

The present study was designed to evaluate the influence of long-term environmental human exposure to three heavy metals, lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg), on the expression of detoxifying, xenobiotic metabolizing, and DNA repair genes in Mahd Ad-Dahab city. The study groups consisted of 40 healthy male residents (heavy metal-exposed) and 20 healthy male from Riyadh city, 700 km away, and served as control group. The heavy metal-exposed group with high exposure to Pb, Cd, or Hg was divided into three subgroups Pb-, Cd-, and Hg-exposed groups, respectively. The mRNA expression levels of detoxifying, NQO1, HO-1, GSTA1, MT-1, and HSP70, were significantly decreased in all heavy metal-exposed group as compared to control group. This was accompanied with a proportional decrease in the expression of xenobiotic metabolizing gene, cytochrome P4501A1. On the other hand, the DNA repair gene OGG1 and the 8-OHdG level were dramatically inhibited in Cd-exposed group only.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.