engleski

Flow cytometry in marine environmental research

Exposure of marine organisms to environmental contaminants is a global problem. In order to establish effective pollution control measurement for water conservation, beside emission and contaminant levels, their effect on hereditary material (DNA) must be taken into consideration. Better understanding of organismic responses to these environmental impacts could be obtained by flow cytometry analysis of cellular DNA content. The DNA content of haemocytes of mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis transferred from uncontaminated mariculture area to area contaminated with industrial waste waters ("mussel watch") was investigated. The measurement of DNA content using flow cytometry is based on the ability of certain fluorescent dyes (DAPI) to bind stoichiometrically to DNA under the appropriate staining conditions. By comparing the intensity of each mussel haemocyte to intensity of each haemocytes containing normal diploid amounts of DNA, the relative quantity of DNA in the haemocytes of interest is determined. For the first time it was shown that haemocyte DNA content in the mussels from the vicinity of Rovinj, Istrian coast, Northern Adriatic, Croatia, is influenced by industrial waste waters. We can conclude that G1- arrest and G2 - delay appears to represent an active response to DNA damage in mussel haemocytes caused by environmental contamination. Thus, applications of flow cytometry in marine environmental research give us informations about health status of organisms as well as about environmental conditions themselves.

Flow cytometry; DNA content; mussel hemocytes; environmental pollution; mussel watch

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