ABSTRACT
This chapter describes analytical techniques that detect and quantify DNA damage that we have been using in the Environmental Sciences Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to evaluate the relation between exposure, metabolism, and subsequent biological effects of genotoxic chemicals in the environment. An approach that can help document the exposure of a living organism to contaminants and possibly indicate the potential for deleterious impact is biological monitoring. This technique makes use of biological endpoints in living organisms that are indicators (biomarkers) of environmental insults. Biological monitoring can help circumvent these problems to a large extent by focusing on relevant molecular events that occur subsequent to exposure and metabolism. Biological monitoring is an approach of considerable interest to scientists investigating the effects of hazardous substances in our environment. Responses in living organisms, usually detected at the molecular level, are evaluated for their potential to identify exposure to dangerous substances and to define or to predict subsequent deleterious effects.
