Application of Crayfish Astacus Leptodactylus for the Analysis of Water Genotoxicity in the Lake Sevan Basin

Study of the cyto- and genotoxic activity of water from the Kapshagai reservoir (Kazakhstan) on laboratory mice

Chemical compounds in the environment, which exhibit toxic and genotoxic activity, increase the mutational pressure on biota. This study aimed to investigate the genotoxic, mutagenic, and toxic effects of water from the Ile River and the Kapshagai Reservoir, both sites of active economic activities. Cytogenetic analysis of bone marrow from mice exposed to water samples from the Ile River and the Kapshagai Reservoir revealed a statistically significant increase in aberrant (p<0.05) and polyploid cells (p<0.01), as well as a decrease in the mitotic index (p<0.001), compared to the negative control. The water samples caused statistically significant increases in single- and double-strand DNA breaks in cells across various organs in the experimental mice compared to unexposed animals (p<0.001). These observations suggest the existence of chemical compounds within the water samples from the Kapshagai Reservoir and the Ile River, which exhibit genotoxic, mutagenic, and toxic properties.