Avaliação da genotoxicidade ambiental utilizando Plagioscion squamosissimus (Heckel, 1840) como bioindicador em dois trechos de rios da Amazônia, Brasil.

Abstract

Genotoxicity studies in coastal ecosystems have been a priority in Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA). This research aimed to study the mutagenicity and genotoxicity of the Murucupi River (contaminated) in Barcarena city, exposed to contamination by mining industry and in the Furo da Laura estuary (control) in Vigia, both Pará state, Brazil, using Plagioscion squamosissimus as a biondicator. To evaluate mutagenicity and nuclear alterations were used the micronucleus test and for genotoxicity the comet assay. Blood samples were collected from 54 specimens. The individuals from Vigia were statistically larger in size than those from Barcarena and these were graphically heavier than those captured in Vigia. No significant mutagenic effects were detected in the cells analyzed, although the highest occurrence was observed in Barcarena. The percentage of genomic damage differed between the sites studied, being always higher in Barcarena as well. Of the nucleoids analyzed in Barcarena, on average 28±14.42% of the cells were classified in the highest damage class (4). The fish analyzed in the present study are having direct influence of xenobiont agents capable of producing damage to the genetic material of aquatic organisms in both sites and, consequently, may bring consequences still little reported in studies of morphophysiological alterations in humans.