Genotoxicity and oxidative stress assessment among farmers occupationally exposed to pesticides in El-Behira Governorate, Egypt

Background Recently, pesticide usage has rapidly increased worldwide and consequently, there is a great worry about their adverse health effects. In literature, there is paucity of research regarding the relationship between occupational pesticide exposure and genotoxicity. The current study aimed to detect sociodemographic and occupational characteristics of the participants and to assess biomarkers of genotoxicity and oxidative stress and reveal their association with exposure to pesticides.Methods A comparative cross-sectional approach was carried out at a randomly selected village where 58 farmers exposed to pesticides were compared with another 58 individuals not exposed to pesticides. Participants were interviewed; blood samples were withdrawn for measuring the following: deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation percentage, serum thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) level, serum activity levels of glutathione reductase (GR), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes.Results Farmers had significantly higher levels of DNA fragmentation, TBARS, and SOD [8.07 ± 2.38, 1.42 (0.79), and 350.09 (30.03), respectively] than the comparison group [4.41 ± 1.35, 0.37 (0.72), and 281.25 (130.37), respectively]; While they had a lower GR, CAT, and BChE levels [14.53 ± 8.53, 21.7 (41.04), and 2707.77 ± 651.24, respectively] than the comparison group [24.92 ± 9.44, 37.8 (41.72), and 5694.3 ± 1175.76, respectively]. Exposure to pesticides was found to be independently associated with an increase in the percentage of DNA fragmentation by 3.146%; an increase in TBARS level by 0.717 nmol/dL; an increase in the SOD enzyme activity level by 72.614 IU/mL and a decrease in the GR enzyme activity level by 10.094 IU/mL.Conclusion Pesticide exposure is associated with genotoxicity and oxidative stress.