Detection of styrene oxide-DNA adducts in lymphocytes of a worker exposed to styrene

The 32P-postlabelling procedure has been used to detect styrene oxide (SO)-DNA adducts. Reactions of SO with DNA and dGMP in vitro produced adducts that were similar, indicating that dGMP was the primary base for modification in DNA. Two SO adducts were also detected in DNA isolated from lymphocytes of a styrene-exposed worker but not in DNA from an unexposed worker. These results indicate that 32P-postlabelling can be used for quantification of DNA adducts in workers exposed to styrene.