Monitoring of DNA damage in haemocytes of freshwater mussel Sinanodonta woodiana sampled from the Velika Morava River in Serbia with the comet assay

This study was undertaken to investigate the potential of the freshwater mussel Sinanodonta woodiana for detection of genotoxic pollution of the environment. Study was performed at two sites in the Velika Morava River, from May 2010 to February 2011. The alkaline comet assay on haemocytes was used, and the olive tail moment (OTM) was chosen as a measure of DNA damage. The specimens held on acclimation under controlled laboratory conditions for 10 d were used as a control. Chemical analysis revealed the presence of phosphates and increased concentrations of zinc, copper and nickel at both sites during the entire sampling period. The values of OTM in mussels collected from the environment, significantly correlated with the concentration of zinc (r = 0.6248), temperature (r = 0.7006) and dissolved oxygen (r = 0.7738). Seasonal variations in genotoxic response were observed, with the highest OTM values obtained during summer months. Preliminary results of the in vitro study indicated the effect of water temperature on genotoxic response to zinc and cadmium in S. woodiana suggesting that the presence of genotoxic pollutants during months with lower temperature could be under-estimated. Obtained results indicate that S. woodiana could be a valuable tool for active biomonitoring of aquatic environments and emphasizes the importance of seasonal genotoxic monitoring with this organism

The impact of in vivo and in vitro exposure to base analogue 5-FU on the level of DNA damage in haemocytes of freshwater mussels Unio pictorum and Unio tumidus

The impact of in vivo and in vitro exposure to anticancer drug 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) on the level of DNA damage was evaluated using comet assay on haemocytes of freshwater mussels Unio pictorum and Unio tumidus. For the in vivo experiment, the groups of 5 mussels per concentration were exposed for 72 h to 5-FU (0.04, 0.4, 4, 40 and 100 mu M) with 0.4 mu M being the lowest concentration to induce significant DNA damage. For the in vitro experiment, the primary cultures of haemocytes were treated with 0.04, 0.4, 4 and 40 mu M 5-FU for 22 h and the treatment with CdCl2 was used as a positive control. In contrast to in vivo exposure, 5-FU did not induce significant increase of DNA damage in vitro, possibly because of the absence of haemocytes proliferation in primary cultures

Impact of Common Cytostatics on DNA Damage in Freshwater Mussels Unio pictorum and Unio tumidus

The impact of etoposide (ETO), vincristine sulfate (VIN), and cisplatin (CP) on the DNA damage level was studied in vivo and in vitro on hemocytes of freshwater mussels Unio sp. (Unio pictorum/Unio tumidus) using the alkaline comet assay. For in vivo experiments, the mussels were exposed in static system for 72 h. For in vitro experiments, treatment was performed in primary cultures of hemocytes for 22 h. The DNA damage level was analyzed by Comet Assay IV software. Increase of damage was detected for ETO (40 and 100 mu M) in vivo and in vitro and for VIN (0.04 and 0.1 mu M) in vivo. CP did not induce an increase of DNA damage, but post-treatment with hydrogen peroxide indicated existence of DNA crosslinks in specimens treated with 4 mu M CP. Effective concentrations of selected cytostatics are at least one (CP) or several orders of magnitude (ETO, VIN) higher comparing to the concentrations in hospital wastewater

Optimisation of the microdilution method for detection of minimum inhibitory concentration values in selected bacteria

In this study we investigated the influence of preparation of the bacterial inoculum for a microdilution susceptibility test, e.g., the effect of its optical density, on assessment of the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC). The approach employed in the majority of microdilution susceptibility studies is use of the same optical density for preparation of inoculums for different bacterial strains. In the present work, this approach was questioned by determining the ratio between the optical density and the number of bacteria in cultures. We also investigated whether the number of bacteria in inoculums can affect assessment of the MIC value for two antibiotics of broad spectra, rifampicin and streptomycin. The study was performed on four Gram-positive and four Gram-negative bacteria (ATCC collection) commonly used to investigate antimicrobial potential. The ratio between the optical density and number of bacteria in cultures was determined for each strain, and a strong linear correlation was detected. However, it was evident that different bacteria have different cell numbers at the same OD600 value. Based on the obtained results, inoculums for selected strains were prepared to obtain final cell numbers of 103, 104, 105 and 106 /well in the microdilution assay. Two different approaches were used in determining the MIC for rifampicin and streptomycin: approximation of MIC with IC90 and the resazurin reduction assay. Our results indicated that the ratio between optical density and cell numbers is not constant and use of the same OD for inoculums for all strains can therefore lead to misinterpretation of the MIC values. We also observed influence of cell numbers in inoculums in determination of MIC values. For both approaches used (approximation of MIC with IC90 and the resazurin reduction assay), the same trend was detected: antibiotics had the highest potency in experiments with the lowest bacteria cell number (103/well). The lowest cell number (103/well) is not recommended, as it can lead to false susceptibility results and to partial reduction of resazurin, which further complicates MIC determination. A final cell number of 104/well can therefore be recommended as optimal