TITLE:
Genotoxicity Tests and Their Contributions in Aquatic Environmental Research
AUTHORS:
Alaa G. M. Osman
KEYWORDS:
Aquatic Environmental Research, Genotoxicity Tests, Aquatic Organisms, Comet Assay, Micronucleus Test
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.14,
November
19,
2014
ABSTRACT: As many
chemicals with genotoxic potential are emitted to surface water, genotoxicity
tests are gaining importance which led to the development of several techniques
to detect directly DNA damage. The relevance of detecting the genotoxic risks
associated with water pollution was firstly perceived in the late 1970s. Since
that time several tests have been developed for evaluating DNA alterations in
aquatic animals. These tests rely on the premise that any changes to DNA may
have long-lasting and profound consequences. Sister chromatid test, chromosome
aberrations, comet assay, and micronucleus test are currently the most widely
employed methods to detect DNA lesions in ecotoxicology. Chromosomal aberration
and sister chromatid exchanges are time consuming, resource intensive and
require proliferating cell population. Hence, Comet assay and Micronucleus test
as cost effective and more sensitive test systems have now been introduced for
assessing the genotoxicity of chemicals. This review presents a synthesis of
the state of the art in the methodologies of comet assay and micronucleus test
and their contributions in aquatic environmental research. The text explores
the latest knowledge and thinking on these very important approaches for the
assessment of environmental health, management, and conservation. The primary
concern of the present review is the measurement of genotoxic potential in aquatic
organisms under field and laboratory conditions, where effects of chemicals at
different levels of biological organization can be examined.