Effects of an acute exposure to toluene on the DNA repair activity of the human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (hOGG1) in healthy subjects.

The structure and previous studies on the biotransformation of toluene lead to the suspicion that metabolites may be formed which preferentially react with strongly nucleophilic partners such as sulfhydryl groups of cysteines in proteins. Human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 removes the major oxidative DNA damage and possesses eight cysteines. Its potential inactivation may lead to accumulation of DNA damage by reactive oxygen species formed by exogenous agents or by ubiquitous endogenous processes.

Acute exposure to 50ppm toluene does not increase sleepiness.

The Pupillographic Sleepiness Test (PST) is a new neurophysiological method to assess sleepiness. In an exposure study to a constant exposure level of 50ppm toluene on 20 healthy men, our aim was to find out, if increased sleepiness could be seen with PST. PST was performed before and after 4.

Acute effects of low doses of methyl parathion on human EEG.

Biological monitoring of workers exposed to organophosphates consists mainly of measuring serum or erythrocyte cholinesterase activity. However, animal experiments and a field study suggest that quantitative analysis of EEG may be more sensitive. In a parallel group design, 25 farmers were investigated, spraying methyl parathion or water for 50min.