Use of low density polyethylene membranes for assessment of genotoxicity of PAHs in the Seine River

Françoise Vincent-Hubert (1, 2) , Emmanuelle Uher (1) , Carole Di Giorgio (3) , Cécile Michel (1) , Michel de Méo (3) , Catherine Gourlay-Francé (1)

1 UR HBAN - Hydrosystèmes et Bioprocédés
2 SGMM - Unité Santé, Génétique et Microbiologie des Mollusques
3 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale

The genotoxicity of river water dissolved contaminants is usually estimated after grab sampling of river water. Water contamination can now be obtained with passive samplers that allow a time-integrated sampling of contaminants. Since it was verified that low density polyethylene membranes (LDPE) accumulate labile hydrophobic compounds, their use was proposed as a passive sampler. This study was designed to test the applicability of passive sampling for combined chemical and genotoxicity measurements. The LDPE extracts were tested with the umu test (TA1535/pSK1002 ± S9) and the Ames assay (TA98, TA100 and YG1041 ± S9). We describe here this new protocol and its application in two field studies on four sites of the Seine River. Field LDPE extracts were negative with the YG1041 and TA100 and weakly positive with the TA98 + S9 and Umu test. Concentrations of labile mutagenic PAHs were higher upstream of Paris than downstream of Paris. Improvement of the method is needed to determine the genotoxicity of low concentrations of labile dissolved organic contaminants.

Mots clés: Genotoxicity; River water; Passive samplers; PAHs; Ames assay; Umu test

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie; Ingénierie de l'environnement

Françoise Vincent-Hubert, Emmanuelle Uher, Carole Di Giorgio, Cécile Michel, Michel de Méo, et al.. Use of low density polyethylene membranes for assessment of genotoxicity of PAHs in the Seine River. Ecotoxicology, 2017, 26 (2), pp.165-172. ⟨10.1007/s10646-016-1751-6⟩. ⟨hal-02314910⟩