Genotoxic effect of Phenanthrene on Chironomus sancticaroli (Diptera: Chironomidae)

ABSTRACT

Phenanthrene, a Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon, remains adsorbed to sedimentary particles in aquatic environments. It affects mainly benthic organisms, and is considered potentially genotoxic. In ecotoxicology, species of Chironomus Meigen, 1803 are widely known as bioindicators of the effects of chemicals on aquatic organisms. This study investigates the effects of phenanthrene on the size of the head capsule of Chironomus sancticaroli Strixino & Strixino, 1981 larvae after chronic (eight days) exposure, and DNA damage after acute (96 hours) and chronic exposure (eight days), under laboratory conditions. DNA damage, evaluated using the alkaline comet assay, detected effects for both exposure periods, indicating that phenanthrene is toxic for C. sancticaroli. For the acute exposure, we analyzed five concentrations of phenanthrene, between 0.16 mg.l-1 and 1.60 mg.l-1, detecting significant differences (Kruskall-Wallis test with p 0.05) in the degree of DNA damage in all groups. These effects were not dose-dependent. For the chronic exposure, two concentrations (0.16 mg.l-1, 0.83 mg.l-1) were analyzed, and DNA damage was observed in both. Again, the effects were not dose-dependent. This indicates that phenanthrene is genotoxic to larvae of C. sancticaroli even at low concentrations. The size of the head capsule was evaluated after chronic exposure to concentrations of 0.16 mg.l-1 and 0.83 mg.l-1. Significant differences (ANOVA test with p 0.05) were detected in the two concentrations, and a reduction in the size of the larval head capsule was observed. This suggests that phenanthrene causes delay in larval development. These results indicate that phenanthrene affects the development of and causes DNA damage in C. sancticaroli larvae. Therefore, we suggest that C. sancticaroli can be used as a biological indicator for environmental contamination with phenanthrene.(AU)