objective: To assess the cytogenetic toxicological safety of fish raised in water containing effluent. Methods: Three experimental groups of fish were raised in water that contained effluent. Both fish samples and water samples were collected and analyzed. One group of fish raised in YuQiao reservoir (The source of drinking-water for Tianjin) and a reservoir water sample were collected at the same time as the clean control group. The mutagenicity of organic extracts of the fish was detected using the mice bone marrow micronucleus test and the mutagenicity of the water samples was detected using the micronucleus test of vicia faba root tip cells. Results: The results of the mice bone marrow micronucleus test on organic extracts of the fish showed that the micronucleus rates of the three experimental groups were significantly higher than that of the negative control group (peanut oil) and the clean control group (P<0.01). The results of the micronucleus test of vicia faba root tip cells showed that the micronucleus rates in groups of water that contained effluent were significantly higher than that of the negative control group (distilled water) (P<0.01) while the micronucleus rates showed no significant difference between the reservoir water and the negative control group (P>0.05) Conclusions: The results indicate that the water containing effluent and the fish raised in this kind of water contain some kinds of organic mutagenic compounds, which might have some potentially hazardous effects on human beings through the food chains.
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