Evaluation of genotoxicity of the leather industry waste by Vicia-test

摘要

Chromium, with its great economic importance in industrial grounds, is a major metal pollutant of the environment. Chromium-induced acute and chronic toxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity have been extensively demonstrated. The decline of the leather industry in Eastern and Central Europe in the late 1980's left hundreds of hectares of land contaminated with chromium as a major inorganic contaminant. This study was designed to evaluate the clastogenecity of the sediment samples collected from an post treatment pond system of a leather factory near town Kunszentmarton, Hungary. Water solutions extracted from the sediment samples were used to treat the roots of the Vicia faba to determine the degree of genotoxycity by calculating micronuclei frequencies. We also studied the changes of mutagenic effects of the sediment during four year long investigation period. Micronuclei frequencies of the sediment samples show linear dose responses to the chromium contents, and were direct proportional to the concentration of chromium in the sediment. The results of this study demonstrate that the chromium contents in the waste sediment of a leather factory bears a high degree of genetic toxicity.