engleski

Genotoxicity assessment of soils near heavy traffic roads using native populations of earthworm Aporrectodea caliginosa

The application of biomarkers to field collected earthworms receives increasing interest due to their important role in the terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the usability of native populations of endogeic, widely distributed earthworm species, Aporrectodea caliginosa in the assessment of soil genotoxicity using the Comet assay. Validation of the Comet assay on earthworm coelomocytes has been established using A. caliginosa exposed to copper in a filter paper contact test. Furthermore the method has been applied on native populations of A. caliginosa sampled from the soils with different pollution intensity. Two of the sites were in the urban area (city of Zagreb) polluted by vehicular traffic, with high concentrations of heavy metals, PAHs, and mineral-oil hydrocarbons while the third site was considered as a reference site. To additionally assess the toxic effect neutral red retention time (NRRT) assay, a well established earthworm biomarker of toxicity, was conducted on copper exposed and field collected earthworms. Both methods revealed significant biological effect in copper exposed earthworms as well as in populations of A. caliginosa from polluted sites in comparison to the earthworms from the reference site. These results confirm the applicability of A. caliginosa as a suitable earthworm species for the in situ soil toxicity and genotoxicity surveys.

Comet assay; DNA damage; NRRT assay; coelomocytes; Aporrectodea caliginosa

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