A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the degree of Master of Science (Medicine). / Objective: To determine the relationship between asbestos exposure and
chromosome damage, as depicted by sister chromatid exchange frequency.
Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional study.
Setting: Asbestos-products factory
Subjects: 31 asbestos-exposed subjects and 21 unexposed subjects
Main outcome measure: Mean sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency
per metaphase cell.
Results: The control group had a slightly higher mean SCE frequency per
cell than the exposed group (3.4%) but this difference was not statistically
significant (p = 0.5935). Smoking contributed significantly to SCE frequencies
in both the exposed and unexposed groups. The mean SCE frequencies per
cell in the exposed group were 10.49 for smokers and 8.59 for non-smokers
(p = 0.0078). The frequencies for smokers and non-smokers in the unexposed
group were 10.83 and 8.58, respectively (p = 0.0257).
Conclusions: The failure to observe an increase in SCE frequency does not
rule out asbestos exposure as a genotoxic agent. Rather, it may help to
resolve the limitations of this method for detecting genetic damage.
Alternatively, the fibre levels to which this group was exposed may have
been too low to cause chromosome damage. / WHSLYP2016
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21446 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Nelson, Gillian |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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