Formaldehyde in Hospitals Induces Oxidative Stress: The Role of and Polymorphisms

Despite the toxicity and health risk characteristics of formaldehyde (FA), it is currently used as a cytological fixative and the definition of safe exposure levels is still a matter of debate. Our aim was to investigate the alterations in both oxidative and inflammatory status in a hospital working population. The 68 workers recruited wore a personal air-FA passive sampler, provided a urine sample to measure 15-F-Isoprostane (15-F-IsoP) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and a blood specimen to measure tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα). Subjects were also genotyped for (Presence/Absence), (Presence/Absence), exon 7 (A > G), and (-174, G > C). Workers were ex post split into formalin-employers (57.3 μg/m) and non-employers (13.5 μg/m). In the formalin-employers group we assessed significantly higher levels of 15-F-IsoP, MDA and TNFα (<0.001) in comparison to the non-employers group. The air-FA levels turned out to be positively correlated with 15-F-IsoP ( = 0.027) and MDA ( < 0.001). In the formalin-employers group the MDA level was significantly higher in Null ( = 0.038), Null ( = 0.031), and exon 7 mutation carrier ( = 0.008) workers, compared to the wild type subjects. This study confirms the role of FA in biomolecular profiles alterations, highlighting how low occupational exposure can also result in measurable biological outcomes.