RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Long-term occupational exposure to trace concentrations of volatile anesthetics is known to have adverse effects on the health of exposed personnel. OBJECTIVES: We investigated paraoxonase-1 (PON1) and arylesterase (ARE), as well as antioxidant status (TAS) and total oxidant status (TOS) levels in anesthesia personnel (AP) who were chronically exposed to inhalation anesthetics, and compared them with levels in a control group. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We designed a comparative prospective study with 50 female subjects. The first cohort included 25 full-time female workers in operating rooms in two locations in the Antalya Education and Research Hospital in Antalya, Turkey. The control group was comprised of 25 female individuals working in the same hospitals without any work-related exposure to hazardous agents. RESULTS: Serum ARE activity and TAS levels were significantly reduced (p = 0.04 and p < 0.0001, respectively), whereas TOS and OSI levels were found to be significantly higher (p = 0.01 and p < 0.0001, respectively) in AP. However, there were no significant differences in PON1 activity, PON1/HDL-C, ARE/HDL-C, and PON1/ARE (p = 0.30, p = 0.5, p = 0.1 and p = 0.7, respectively) when the two groups were contrasted. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of this study, depending on the putative role of PON/ARE in oxidant stress-related diseases, particularly atherosclerosis and cancer, AP might be considered a risk group for the development of atherosclerosis and many other diseases.