ABSTRACT
Concern about the health hazards in the aluminum industry has initiated this study. The aim of this study was to detect fibronectin [FN] and glutathione peroxidase [GPX] levels as well as genotoxicity in aluminium - exposed workers. A group of 40 workers exposed to aluminium in an aluminium reduction plant with a mean duration of exposure of [20.4 +/- 4.8] years and a group of 20 non-exposed workers were subjected to full history taking, thorough clinical examination and ventilatory function measurements. The plasma FN level and the GPX level were estimated in both the exposed workers and the control group. The age and sex distributions among the 2 groups were comparable. Cultured lymphocytes from blood samples were used to perform cytogenetic analysis. A statistically significant reduction in the ventilatory function parameters among the exposed when compared with the control group was demonstrated. The level of plasma FN of the exposed group was significantly higher than that in the control group [p< 0.05]. It was positively correlated with the cytogenetic data of the exposed group [p < 0.05]. The occupational exposure of workers resulted in a statistically significant decrease of [GPX] [p < 0.05] when compared with the control group. Statistically significant difference could also be detected between the exposed and the control groups as regards the CA [gaps and breaks] [p<0.05], while the DNA adducts rates showed no statistically significant difference between both groups. Concerning smoking, the analysis of Spearman correlation showed no significant difference in the results of cytogenetic parameters between smokers and non-smokers in the exposed group, but a significant inverse correlation [p < 0.05] between smoking and GPX level was observed. A nonsignificant correlation could be detected between duration of exposure and both the cytogenetic parameters and each of FN and GPX levels [p > 0.05]. Environmental Al concentrations were also measured at the various workstations and the mean value was [1.5 +/- 0.7] mg/m[3]