PENGARUH PAPARAN EMISI KENDARAAN BERMOTOR TERHADAP FREKUENSI PEMBENTUKAN MIKRONUKLEUS DI MUKOSA RONGGA MULUT PADA MEKANIK BENGKEL MOTOR

Abstract

Background: As time goes by, there is a significant increase on number of vehicle, particularly motorcycle. This condition results on higher vehicle emission released on air. Motorcycle emission produced from imperfect engine combustion contains dangerous substances that may harm genes configuration on human bodies, such as lead and polyaromatic hydrocarbon. Those substances are called genotoxic substances. A person whose occupation is connected with vehicle gas is more likely to be exposed with the emission than the one who is not on the vehicle-related occupation. Emission inhaled regularly would accumulate on nasal and mouth cavities of the exposed person. The accumulation of genotoxic substances could damage the cell nuclei. Nucleus damage could manifest as micronucleus, or additional nucleus in smaller size than the original nucleus. The effect of motorcycle emission to the frequency of micronucleus formation needs to be found as this would give rise to cancer prevalence, particularly on mouth cavity. Aim: To understand the effect of exposure on motorcycle emission to the increase of micronucleus formation frequency in mouth cavity on the motorcycle mechanics. Method: This research was conducted using cross-sectional study with primary data, which is the mucosal swab of mouth cavity. The case group was motorcycle mechanics, while the control group was citizen of Jogjakarta, with 35 samples for each group. Results: There was a significant difference of micronucleus count from case and control group (p=0.000), and the mean of micronucleus on motorcycle mechanics was 11.375 and 5.323 on control group. Conclusion: There is an effect of exposure on motorcycle emission to the increase of micronucleus formation frequency on the motorcycle mechanics compared to those who are less exposed to emission in their occupation. Keywords: motorcycle emission, micronucleus formation, motorcycle mechanics