Toxicity to Tradescantia of technogenic radionuclides and their mixture with heavy metals

Abstract

The genotoxic effects on Tradescantia of (137)Cs, (90)Sr, and (236, 242)Pu, a heavy metal mixture [Cd, Cr(VI), Cu, Mn(II), Ni, Pb, Zn] and of a complex mixture of these toxicants were determined. The impact of radionuclides on plants subjected to ionizing radiation exposure was estimated. The number of somatic mutations and the quantity of nonviable stamen hairs were used as end points in the testing. An increase in the quantity of nonviable stamen hairs was observed with increasing internal exposure to (137)Cs, (90)Sr, and (236, 242)Pu; however, the number of somatic mutations was not observed to be dependent on ionizing radiation. The internal dose of individual radionuclides necessary to decrease the quantity of viable stamen hairs in Tradescantia by 50% can be arranged in the following sequence: (236, 242)Pu > (137)Cs > (90)Sr. Tradescantia died in the mixture of the radionuclides (90)Sr, (137)Cs, and (236)Pu (5 x 10(-2), 7 x 10(-5), and 4 x 10(-10) Gy, respectively) after 14 days, whereas the heavy metal mixture caused somatic mutations in 3% of the Tradescantia and nonviable stamen hairs in 7% but no mortality. However, the Tradescantia died in a combined mixture of these heavy metals and the radionuclides after 14 days. On the basis of all these observations, it can be concluded that the toxic effect of radionuclides was more significant than that of heavy metals.

Genotoxic effects of extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MF) evaluated by theTradescantia-micronucleus assay

“…Reports indicate that the Trad-MN assay is an efficient tool for monitoring various genotoxic chemical pollutants in urban air (Monarca et al, 1999;Cape, 2003), soil and aqueous media (Gill and Sandhu, 1992), drinking water (Monarca et al, 1998a), surface and waste water (Ruiz et al, 1992;Monarca et al, 2000;Monarca et al, 2003), and in work and indoor environments (Monarca et al, 1998b;Monarca et al, 2001;Kim et al, 2003). The Trad-MN assay has also been used for testing the genotoxicity of physical agents, such as radon (Villalobos-Petrini et al, 1999;Tavera et al, 2002), radionuclides (Marciulioniene et al, 2002), and UV-B and radiofrequency radiation (Haider et al, 1994;Wang and Wang, 1999).…”

Dangerous Pollutants (Xenobiotics) in Urban Water Cycle

“…Thirty-day experiments with Tradescantia clone 02 (Commelinaceae) were performed applying the modified method of Osipova and Shevchenko (1984). The bioassays of L. sativum, S. polyrrhiza and Tradescantia clone 02 had been widely described in our previous report Marčiulionienė et al, 2004). The experimental set of each testing scheme consisted of 3 or 5 control samples and 3 or 5 replicates of the test sample.…”

Radioprotective and Sorption Properties of Beespine

“…Ukraine suffered a significant impact on the environment in 1986 as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, during which a large area was contaminated with radionuclides and heavy metals (Yakymchuk, 2018). Among these toxic substances, 137 Cs, 90 Sr, Pb and Cd represent a high danger due to their intensive migration in the environment (Marciulioniene et al, 2004;Kohanoff et al, 2021). Accumulating in food products, these toxic substances enter living organisms, causing a whole series of changes, which are mainly accompanied by the occurrence of diseases.…”