Mutagenicity assessment in a river basin influenced by agricultural, urban and industrial sources.

The genotoxic potential of samples from a river basin under impact of agricultural, urban and industrial activities was studied, to investigate the influence of climatic variations on the mutagenicity. Three sites were analyzed, a reference-SI121-and two with strong anthropic influence-SI028 and SI008. The Salmonella/microsome assay was performed in the presence/absence of hepatic metabolic system in samples of water and organic extracts.

Genotoxicity and toxicity assessment in urban hydrographic basins.

The genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of water in small urban basins was evaluated by the Salmonella/microsome assay and micronucleus test in V79 cells. The results showed that the cytotoxic effect was the most significant response in areas with medium to heavy urban occupation for both assays evaluated. Water samples from these areas include different concentrations of chloroform, bromodichloromethane, toluene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylene and 1,4-dichlorobenzene.