The factors for DNA damage and repair capacity in college students

• Main Authors: Kai-Fu Chang, 張凱富
• Other Authors: 張志欽
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/02250622769566954420

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 公共衛生學研究所碩士班 === 94 === Exposures to environmental carcinogens, such as air pollutants and smoke, can induce various types of DNA damage and lead to the development of cancer. Free radicals generated from environmental carainogens or endogeneously in human can damage genome and result in genomic instability. DNA damage not only contributes to the development of cancer, but also is associated with many hereditary diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of environmental factors on DNA damage and DNA repair capability in healthy volunteers. We recruited 25 healthy college students to participate in the study. Peripheral blood lymphocytes were collected and irradiated with UV light to induce DNA damage and then incubated for 15, 30, 60 minutes to allow for damage repair. Using comet assay to detect DNA damage at each time point and calculate the percentage of residual DNA damage (%RD) and percentage of repair capacity (%RC) to reflect DNA repair capability. The results showed that male and students with longer traffic time, family history of diseases, sporting habit, coffee drinking, vitamin takings had higher DNA damage and lower DNA repair capacity. However, they did not reach statistical significant, when compared with female or students without above characteristics. It might be that the study subjects were young and healthy population with short exposure time and lower exposure doses. This influence of particular exposure on DNA repair capacity warrants further investigation on occupational or environmentally exposed population. Keywords：Comet assay, DNA damage, DNA repair