Background: The Amazon represents an area of 61% of Brazilian territory and is undergoing major changes\r\nresulting from disorderly economic development, especially the advance of agribusiness. Composition of the\r\natmosphere is controlled by several natural and anthropogenic processes, and emission from biomass burning is\r\none with the major impact on human health. The aim of this study was to evaluate genotoxic potential of air\r\npollutants generated by biomass burning through micronucleus assay in exfoliated buccal cells of schoolchildren in\r\nthe Brazilian Amazon region.\r\nMethods: The study was conducted during the dry seasons in two regions of the Brazilian Amazon. The assay was\r\ncarried out on buccal epithelial cells of 574 schoolchildren between 6-16 years old.\r\nResults: The results show a significant difference between micronucleus frequencies in children exposed to\r\nbiomass burning compared to those in a control area.\r\nConclusions: The present study demonstrated that in situ biomonitoring using a sensitive and low cost assay\r\n(buccal micronucleus assay) may be an important tool for monitoring air quality in remote regions. It is difficult to\r\nattribute the increase in micronuclei frequency observed in our study to any specific toxic element integrated in\r\nthe particulate matters. However, the contribution of the present study lies in the evidence that increased\r\nexposure to fine particulate matter generates an increased micronuclei frequency in oral epithelial cells of\r\nschoolchildren.
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