Genotoxic impacts in Klaip≐da Marine port and Būting[formula omitted] oil terminal areas (Baltic Sea)

Abstract

Genotoxic effects were evaluated in the somatic and gonadal cells of bivalve and gastropod molluscs inhabiting different sites of Klaipeda port area in Lithuania. The occurrence of aneuploidy and polyploidy of cells, meiotic injures, centromere dissociation and fragmented polyploid nuclei as cytogenetic indicators of environmental stressors was assessed in snails Lymnaea ovata . The highest level of environmental genotoxicity (in 43.2 and 46.2% of studied cells) was observed in the tissues of snails inhabiting Malkų Bay in 1995 and 1996. Dredging and thus removal of contaminated sediments from Malkų Bay resulted in significant decrease (up to 27.2% in 1999) of cytogenetic injures in molluscs studied over the period from 1997 to 1999. However, the frequency of cytogenetic disturbances in molluscs from Vilhelmo Channel was increasing (1.8 times) from 1995 to 1999. Therefore, the ecological safety of the biggest drinking water supply for Klaipeda population became questionable. Assessment of cytogenetic damage in Mytilus edulis (MN test) and the crustacean, Balanus improvisus, (aneugenic effects) inhabiting the Baltic Sea at Būtinge oil terminal has shown the highest genotoxicity level in the zone of sewage effluents from Palanga town and Mažeikiai oil refinery plant. Extensive cytogenetic injuries in gonadal cells indicated the potential long-term hazards of pollutants to ecological health and integrity of aquatic species.