Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 4.1
Potential clastogenicity evaluation of Cr and Ni in
Vicia sativa
L. (
n
= 500)
Metal concentration (mg/L)
Number of
aberrations ± SD
Percentage of
aberrations ± SD
Ni
Cr
Control
7 ± 0.69
2.33 ± 0.23
< 0.07
< 0.01
Ni(II)
16.46 ± 2.16
10 ± 0.75**
3.33 ± 0.25**
Cr(III
114.41 ± 13.36
8 ± 0.75*
2.67 ± 0.25*
Cr(VI)
69.69 ± 8.66
13 ± 0.69**
4.33 ± 0.23**
Control—sterile distilled water
SD
standard deviation
**Significant differences in comparison with control at
P
< 0.01
*Significant differences in comparison with control at
P
< 0.05
Table 4.2
Micronuclei frequency in the
Tradescantia
pollen tetrads after treatment with Cr and
Ni solutions (
n
= 1500)
Metal concentration (mg/L)
Number of
micronuclei ± SD
Percentage of
micronuclei ± SD
Ni
Cr
Control
43 ± 13.74
2.89 ± 0.92
< 0.07
< 0.01
Ni(II)
24.71 ± 0.25
59 ± 17.48
3.93 ± 1.17
Cr(III
130.00 ± 1.30
47 ± 16.61
3.13 ± 1.11
Cr(VI)
52.00 ± 0.52
60 ± 15.98
4.00 ± 1.07
SD
standard deviation
combination with
Allium cepa
L. and
Vicia faba
L. root tips tests are most fre-
quently used genotoxicity tests in plants (Majer et al.
2005
) and it is very popular
now for
in situ
bio-monitoring of air pollution (Mišík et al.
2006
,
2007
). The results
obtained during our genotoxicity tests are in good agreement with those reported by
Knasmüller et al. (
1998
) when CrO
3
, CrCl
3
and NiCl
2
up to concentration 10 mM
did not evoke genotoxic effects. The same conclusion was also drawn by Majer
et al. (
2005
) for Cr(III). Higher genotoxicity of Cr(VI) than Cr(III) determined dur-
ing our experiments also is in agreement with Němeček et al. (
2002
). Rossman
(
1995
) who reported that molecular mechanism of DNA damage by Cr(VI) involves
induction of DNA-DNA and DNA-protein cross-links and genotoxic effect can be
also increased by reactive oxygen species produced during intracellular reduction.
For Ni(II), no genotoxic effects were confirmed for bacteria. Rossman (
1995
) and
Patierno and Costa (
1987
) reported that mutations after Ni applications are also the
result of DNA damage and DNA-protein cross-links formation.
4 Conclusion
Obtained results confirmed chromium and nickel adverse effects on terrestrial
plants. Both metals reduced plants' growth and impaired their genetic material.
Routinely phytotoxicity used test with
S. alba
and
V. sativa
seedlings confirmed
for root and shoot growth the highest toxicity of Ni and Cr(VI) toxicity was several
