|
(87-05) Detection and confirmation of mutagenicity in river water in Korea. Kwon, Jung-Hwan1, Lee, Hyun-Kul1, Kim, Kyun1, Park, Eun-Ju2, Kang, Myung-Hee2, Lee, Hye-Sook3, Kim, Yong-Hwa*,1, 1 Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Daejon, Korea2 Hannam University, Daejon, Korea3 Wonkwang University, Iksan, Korea ABSTRACT- It has been reported by several scientists in Korea that river waters exhibits mutagenicity by the Ames mutagenicity tests. However, most of the results were generated at one of the five major rivers and sampled at one particular time of the year. Therefore, it is not possible to figure out the implication of the mutagenicity in the water samples without the evidence of the temporal consistency of the activity, which results in the difficulty of identifying the causative agent, subsequently the difficulty of elimination/reduction procedures of the problematic agent from the environmental compartment. Using the Ames mutagenicity test with TA98 strain in the present study, we found a site at the Nakdong river near an industrial complex where a consistent mutagenicity was seen by sampling 5 times at one month inteval in summer and fall seasons. The mutagenicity could be confirmed as positive using comet assay and the 8-OHdeoxyG assay methods. Identification trial of the mutagen was undertaken by concentrating the material from river water using XAD-2 resin, desorbing with methanol and/or ethyl acetate and analyzing the material by HPLC, GC/MS, and proton NMR. Tentatively isolated and identified chemical from the water was 2-amino-6,7-dichlorobenzothiazole. However, the synthetic material does not show the Ames mutagenicity. We are currently searching the comutagenicity of the chemical and possible unknown mutagens in the isolated fraction. Key words: mutagenicity, river water, Ames test |
