Handling of Astyanax sp. for biomonitoring in Cangüiri Farm within a fountainhead (Iraí River Environment Preservation Area) through the use of genetic biomarkers

Abstract

Aquatic environmental pollution may cause biodiversity loss. Thus, monitoring studies are very important because fish health reflects both quality and sustainability of the environment, as well as of the individuals that live there. In the present report, genetic biomarkers (piscine micronucleus test; comet assay with blood, liver, and kidney cells) were used in specimens of Astyanax sp. to analyze the contamination level of the Cangüiri Farm through biomonitoring. The Cangüiri Farm, the old school farm of the Federal University of Paraná, is inside the Iraí River Environment Preservation Area, created in 1996 to preserve the sources of public water supply in Curitiba and metropolitan area. We verified that the fishes collected within the Cangüiri Farm area presented high damage levels, showing more environment contamination when compared to the specimens collected in the Costa Ecologic Park, used as reference in the present report. The results indicate that the Cangüiri Farm, which is inside an environment protection area, created especially for the protection of the fountainhead for water supply, may be contaminated. These toxic residues, which were remarkably persistent in the environment, are possibly derived from agricultural activities in the wider area. Thus, we suggest the analysis of the area with other biomarkers and for a longer time period.

Integrated biomarker response index using a Neotropical fish to assess the water quality in agricultural areas

“…exposed to this pesticide. Ramsdorf et al (2012) also observed an increase in the frequency of Another widely used herbicide in the study area is Roundup ® , a glyphosate based product. The effects of this herbicide on aquatic organisms have been addressed, especially in fish (Glusczak et al, 2006;Cattaneo, 2011;Rossi et al, 2011).…”

Biomarkers and bioindicators of the environmental condition using a fish species (Pimelodus maculatus Lacepède, 1803) in a tropical reservoir in Southeastern Brazil

“…Measurements of xenobiotic concentrations are expensive and do not supply the amount of the impact on the biological compartment (Solé et al, 2009;Schirmer et al, 2011). The recent advances in the ecotoxicology field had supplied a number of the biomarkers in organism, which can be used to estimate either exposure to chemicals or resultant effects (Handy et al, 2003;Lu et al, 2009;Ramsdorf et al, 2012). Biomarkers and bioindicators has been extensively used as proxies to determine responses at individual level to stressors, with biomarkers being more species-specific and with higher variability of responses compared to bioindicators (Schulz and MartinsJunior, 2001;Solé et al, 2010;Linde-Arias et al, 2008a, b;Barrilli et al, 2015).…”

Baseline micronuclei and nuclear abnormalities frequencies in native fishes from the Paraná River (Argentina)

“…The biomonitoring employing aquatic organisms such as fishes is essential to indicate quality and sustainability of the environment (Ramsdorf et al, 2012). In this regard, fishes are suitable as bioindicators of environmental conditions due to their position in the trophic chain and their sensitivity to low concentrations of genotoxic substances (van der Oost et al, 2003).…”

“…Within the variety of biomarkers for assessing aquatic environments, those which reflect effects on DNA are well-known due its ecological implications (Ramsdorf et al, 2012). The micronucleus test is one of the most employed cytogenetic techniques for genotoxicity assessment and has been widely applied in peripheral blood of teleostean fishes in studies of field (in situ) and bioassays (Al-Sabti and Metcalfe, 1995).…”