Sisenando HA, Batistuzzo de Medeiros SR, Saldiva PHN, Artaxo P, Hacon SS. Genotoxic potential generated by biomass burning in the Brazilian Legal Amazon by Tradescantia micronucleus bioassay: a toxicity assessment study.
Environ Health 2011;
10:41. [PMID:
21575274 PMCID:
PMC3118318 DOI:
10.1186/1476-069x-10-41]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2011] [Accepted: 05/17/2011] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The Brazilian Amazon has suffered impacts from non-sustainable economic development, especially owing to the expansion of agricultural commodities into forest areas. The Tangará da Serra region, located in the southern of the Legal Amazon, is characterized by non-mechanized sugar cane production. In addition, it lies on the dispersion path of the pollution plume generated by biomass burning. The aim of this study was to assess the genotoxic potential of the atmosphere in the Tangará da Serra region, using Tradescantia pallida as in situ bioindicator.
METHODS
The study was conducted during the dry and rainy seasons, where the plants were exposed to two types of exposure, active and passive.
RESULTS
The results showed that in all the sampling seasons, irrespective of exposure type, there was an increase in micronucleus frequency, compared to control and that it was statistically significant in the dry season. A strong and significant relationship was also observed between the increase in micronucleus incidence and the rise in fine particulate matter, and hospital morbidity from respiratory diseases in children.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the results, we demonstrated that pollutants generated by biomass burning in the Brazilian Amazon can induce genetic damage in test plants that was more prominent during dry season, and correlated with the level of particulates and elevated respiratory morbidity.
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