Assessment of DNA Damage by Comet Assay in Lymphocytes of Workers Occupationally Exposed to Petroleum fumes

The comet assay is a sensitive, reliable and rapid method for DNA double & single strand break,alkali-labile sites and delayed repair site detection in individual cells. In recent years, this method has beenwidely used for studies of DNA repair, genetic toxicology, environmental biomonitoring, and apoptosis.However, this technique serves as an important tool for detection of DNA damage in living organisms and isincreasingly being used in genetic testing of industrial chemicals, agrochemicals & pharmaceuticals. Thisresearch paper helps to evaluate the health effects of exposure to organic pollutants by using comet assaytechnique by KOMET 3.1 software. This study used human biomonitoring to evaluate the genotoxic effectsof exposure to organic pollutants. The experimental data suggest that the DNA damage parameters (OTM,% T-DNA and TL) were found higher value in exposed population when compared to the control healthypopulation. The percentage and distribution of cells in exposed population also increases with the increasein OTM values. This study demonstrates that, using sensitive techniques, it is possible to detect humanhealth risks at an early stage when intervention is possible.