| Title |
Earthworm Comet Assay for Assessing the Risk of Weathered Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils: Need to Look Further than Target Contaminants
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, October 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00244-016-0318-0 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Kavitha Ramadass, Thavamani Palanisami, Euan Smith, Srinithi Mayilswami, Mallavarapu Megharaj, Ravi Naidu |
| Abstract |
Earthworm toxicity assays contribute to ecological risk assessment and consequently standard toxicological endpoints, such as mortality and reproduction, are regularly estimated. These endpoints are not enough to better understand the mechanism of toxic pollutants. We employed an additional endpoint in the earthworm Eisenia andrei to estimate the pollutant-induced stress. In this study, comet assay was used as an additional endpoint to evaluate the genotoxicity of weathered hydrocarbon contaminated soils containing 520 to 1450 mg hydrocarbons kg(-1) soil. Results showed that significantly higher DNA damage levels (two to sixfold higher) in earthworms exposed to hydrocarbon impacted soils. Interestingly, hydrocarbons levels in the tested soils were well below site-specific screening guideline values. In order to explore the reasons for observed toxicity, the contaminated soils were leached with rainwater and subjected to earthworm tests, including the comet assay, which showed no DNA damage. Soluble hydrocarbon fractions were not found originally in the soils and hence no hydrocarbons leached out during soil leaching. The soil leachate's Electrical Conductivity (EC) decreased from an average of 1665 ± 147 to 204 ± 20 µS cm(-1). Decreased EC is due to the loss of sodium, magnesium, calcium, and sulphate. The leachate experiment demonstrated that elevated salinity might cause the toxicity and not the weathered hydrocarbons. Soil leaching removed the toxicity, which is substantiated by the comet assay and soil leachate analysis data. The implication is that earthworm comet assay can be included in future eco (geno) toxicology studies to assess accurately the risk of contaminated soils. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 49 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 49 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 7 | 14% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 6 | 12% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 5 | 10% |
| Student > Master | 5 | 10% |
| Student > Bachelor | 4 | 8% |
| Other | 5 | 10% |
| Unknown | 17 | 35% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Science | 10 | 20% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 9 | 18% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 2 | 4% |
| Chemistry | 2 | 4% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 1 | 2% |
| Other | 2 | 4% |
| Unknown | 23 | 47% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 October 2016.
All research outputs
#16,242,268
of 23,934,504 outputs
Outputs from Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
#1,544
of 2,127 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#206,797
of 324,461 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
#12
of 20 outputs
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