Investigation of Sensitivity of the Allium cepa Test as an Alert System to Evaluate the Genotoxic Potential of Soil Contaminated by Heavy Metals

de Souza Pohren, Roberta; da Costa, Thatiana Cappi; Vargas, Vera Maria Ferrão

Investigation of Sensitivity of the Allium cepa Test as an Alert System to Evaluate the Genotoxic Potential of Soil Contaminated by Heavy Metals

2013

de Souza Pohren, Roberta | da Costa, Thatiana Cappi | Vargas, Vera Maria Ferrão

Soil is one of the compartments most affected by the accumulation of pollutants from anthropic sources. The present study allowed the identification of the sensitivity of the Allium cepa test system to evaluate solubilized soils from two points in the area contaminated by heavy metals, as well as a point of reference. They are all located in the municipality of Triunfo, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The parameters used for evaluation were germination index, mitotic index, chromosomal aberrations (CA), and index of mutagenicity index (IMUT) presented by A. cepa. Significant responses of CA were observed in the two samples of contaminated soil, but IMUT was significant only for soil 3. The toxicity and cytotoxicity indexes did not show significant responses. The results indicate that the A. cepa plant test system was sensitive to investigate the genotoxicity of the soil samples and can be used as an alert in studies on soil contamination. It was partially concordant with the mutagenic responses already detected for the Salmonella/microsome assay in previous studies.

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