Exposure assessment using biomonitoring

Abstract

Complex studies were performed combining macroscopic and biochemical analyzes of selected biomonitors, exposed in exposure systems outdoor with mixtures of pollutants as well as controlled exposure with certain concentrations of pollutants in fumigation chambers. In this study, the following plant species were used as bioindicators: Nicotiana tabacum, Petunia hybrida, Ricinus comunis, Trifolium pretense. The exposure plant samples were compared with control samples of biomonitors maintained under standardized conditions in the climate chamber. Classical methods of biochemistry combined with those of exposure biomonitoring have led to the completion of knowledge about the ways of action of plants to pollution. The analysis of some of the antioxidant compounds that are representing a structural class of chemicals (enzymes) with a wide range of biological functions, with the role of free radical inhibition, was performed. Many of the constituent compounds in certain cell types, also called active compounds, in this case, polyphenols are present in the body of some plant species. Polyphenol's presence in organisms, that are not usually present or are in normal quantities, is caused by stress, (pollution being a stress factor). Large amounts of polyphenols in plants are also given by the presence of pollutants in the environment. Through these extensive combined studies, it has been demonstrated that pollution can be a degenerative factor at the biochemical and physiological level, at the plant tissue level, with irreversible effects.