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(W/EH007) Micronucleus frequency and DNA-protein crosslinks induced by hexavalent chromium in the crayfish: Procambarus clarkii.. De la Sienra, Emilia1, Gonsebatt, Marķa Eugenia1, 1 ABSTRACT- Water pollution is one of the most important problems in the whole world, not only because of human health problems, but also because of the ecological damage that it implicates. P. clarkii is an edible species that shows a reduced migration range and therefore we can use it to monitor for toxic water pollutants at specific sites. Potassium dichromate is frequently used in industrial processes such as metal surface plating, leather tanning, in paint pigments manufacture, etc. so, it can be found commonly in the natural environment as an industrial waste. Genetic damage could be used as an indicator of mutagenicity and potential illness. We decided to investigate the induction of DNA damage by this heavy metal in this invertebrate, determining the micronucleus frequency in hemolymph cells and the formation of DNA-protein crosslinks in digestive gland and gills cells. The presence of chromium in the gills (filtering organs that are in direct contact with the environment) was also determined. Animals were treated with different concentrations of potassium dichromate (0, 100 and 200 Key words: Biomonitor, Crayfish, Potassium dichromate, Genotoxicity |
g/L) at different periods of time (12 hrs. and 7 days). We observed a significant induction of micronuclei which was linearly correlated with the amount of chromium detected in the gills (r=0.6, p=0.01), but did not observe a significant induction of DNA-protein crosslinks. Our findings indicate a similar sensitivity in this invertebrate hemolymph cells as that observed in mammals where the clastogenic activity of this carcinogen have also been demonstrated, indicating that P. clarkii could be a potential biomonitor.