Genotoxicity of the sediments collected from Pearl River in China and their polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals

Abstract

The accelerated industrialization and urbanization in the last three decades around the Pearl River Delta within Guangdong Province in China have led to serious concerns about the impacts on the aquatic environment. In the present study, the genotoxicity of the sediments collected from the Pearl River was evaluated by micronucleus (MN) assay with Vicia faba root tip cells, and the 16 EPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals (HMs, including Cr, Cu, As, Se, Cd, Hg, and Pb) in the sediments were determined respectively by GC-MS, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The results showed that there were significant increases of MN frequencies observed in the sediment-exposed groups, compared with the negative group (P<0.05, P<0.01), indicating that the sediments clearly had genotoxicity to the V. faba root cells. The total concentrations of the priority PAHs (250-13,656 ng g −1 , dry weight) and HMs (As, 22,770-36,639 μg kg − 1 ; Cr, 39,333-133,343 μg kg −1 ; Cu, 36,145-159,270 μg kg −1 ; Pb, 5 1 , 2 1 0 -1 6 6 , 6 4 2 μ g kg − 1 ; C d , 4 7 5 . 4 -1,818.9 μg kg −1 ; Hg, 59.9-460.8 μg kg −1 ; and Se, 331.7-1,250.4 μg kg −1 , dry weight) were close to those obtained from other urbanized and industrialized areas, which have been considered moderately polluted. There was a clear positive correlation between MN potency and the molar concentrations of Hg and Pb in the sediments (Hg, r=0.94; Pb, r=0.91), suggesting that Hg and Pb were the most important factors that posed the sediments higher genotoxicity to V. faba root cells. Our results suggested that both biological and chemical approaches are necessary to be included in a battery of tests to assess the eco-environmental risks of sediments.

Historical sedimentary and evolutionary characteristics of POPs and EDCs in typical regions of the three Gorges reservoir, China

“…However, a notable positive correlation was observed between PAHs and Pb (r = 0.468, p < 0.05), indicating that they may have the same source [ 38 ]. Furthermore, the coexistence of PAHs and Pb may cause greater genotoxicity to sediments [ 39 ], necessitating the monitoring of the ecological impact of their coexistence.…”

Investigation of genotoxicity in river sediments

“…ChromoPlate kit) or Escherichia coli (e.g. SOS-ChromoTest) are most commonly used (Ghani 2010;Feng et al 2012). The genotoxicity tests have been developed for the detection of chemical mutagens and carcinogens in environmental samples.…”

Simultaneous removal of PAHs and metal contaminants from water using magnetic nanoparticle adsorbents

“…Numerous sites are contaminated by both PAHs and heavy metals, including e-wasting processing sites (Luo et al, 2011), manufactured gas plant sites (Thavamani et al, 2012), and river sediments (Feng et al, 2012), which require simultaneous remediation of PAHs and heavy metals. However, most recent studies have focused on the decontamination of PAHs (Chen et al, 2015;Lee et al, 2015) or heavy metals Sargın et al, 2015) individually.…”