Cyto- and genotoxic potential of water samples from polluted areas in Kosovo

Abstract

Reports on the state of the environment in Kosovo have emphasized that river and ground water quality is affected by pollution from untreated urban water as well as the waste water from the industry. One of the main contributors to this pollution is located in Obiliq (coal power plants). Prishtina-the capital city of Kosovo-is heavily influenced too. Furthermore, the pollutants combined together with those from heavy traffic are dissolved in Prishtina runoff water, which is discharged into the creek entering the river Sitnica together with urban waste water. The available data show the complex pollution with excessive quantities of nitrites, suspended materials, organic compounds, detergents, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc. In this study, the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of water samples taken at these sites was tested in primary rat hepatocytes. The results obtained indicate that water samples collected in Prishtina and Obiliq had a significant cytotoxic potential in primary rat hepatocyte cultures even when diluted to 1 %. The increased cytotoxicity, however, was not accompanied by an increased genotoxicity as measured by the percentage of micronucleated cells. Further investigations addressing the chemical composition of the samples and the identification of the toxicants responsible for the cytotoxic effects found will be carried out in a next step.

River pollution in the Kosovo: Cyto- and genotoxic effects of water samples in the primary rat hepatocyte assay

“…The collected samples were handled according to Eckl (1995) and Alija et al (2016a). Water samples were kept in sterilized bottles and transferred to the laboratory at the Department of Cell Biology, University of Salzburg.…”

“…After isolation, the hepatocytes were plated at a density of 20,000 viable cells/cm 2 on 60 mm diameter plastic culture dishes coated with collagen. Hepatocytes were plated in 5 ml of serum-free MEM containing 1.8 mM calcium supplemented with non-essential amino acids, pyruvate (1 mM), aspartate (0.2 mM), serine (0.2 mM) and penicillin (100 U)/streptomycin (100 µg/ml) (Alija et al, 2016a). Rat hepatocytes were incubated at 37°C, 5% CO 2 and 95% relative humidity.…”

“…Approximately 48 h after the first exchange of the medium, different water concentrations (0.1, 1, 10 and 100%) were applied, and the cultures were incubated for a further 3 h. A 3-h treatment is the standard in these investigations, primarily because the metabolism of foreign compounds is rapidly achieved in hepatocytes (Alija et al, 2016a; Eckl, 1995, Eckl and Raffelsberger,1997; Eckl and Bresgen, 2003; Siems et al, 1997).…”

“…Serious public health problems such as respiratory, cardiac and other diseases are attributed to the environmental pollution in Kosovo (MESP, 2015a; World Bank, 2012). These complex environmental mixtures have been shown to have a genotoxic potential (Alija et al, 2016a, 2016b; Eckl et al, 2010).…”

“…Our previous investigations showed a cyto- and genotoxic potential of the water samples from the water flow in Prishtina (an urban waste water collector) as well as from a sampling point in Sitnica river in the vicinity of the power plants in Kastriot/Obiliq, downstream the location of the water flow discharge (Alija et al, 2016a; Eckl et al, 2010). These investigations were the basis for conducting this follow-up research on the water quality with respect to cyto- and genotoxicity of the Sitnica river at another locality (Mitrovica), which is influenced by both the discharges from the Power Plants in Kastriot/Obiliq and the influence of the Mitrovica industrial complex.…”