Pollution Research Paper

ENVIRONMENTAL BIOMONITORING OF THE AQUATIC BODIES IN METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES WITH RESPECT TO THE GENOTOXICITY POTENTIAL USING IN VIVO MOUSE BONE MARROW MICRONUCLEI TEST AND HEAVY METAL ANALYSIS

MIKAELLA JUSTIN UMALI AND ZEBA F ALAM

Abstract

In the present study, in vivo mouse bone marrow micronucleus assay in combination with heavy metal analysis was used to compare the water quality of water channels namely- estero de vitas and estero de paco, which are part of the Pasig River System, Metro Manila with respect to their genotoxicity potential. As part of the strategy, the esteros are being rehabilitated to control pollution in the river systems whereby estero de paco was recently rehabilitated whereas Estero de Vitas is still largely neglected. There has been a lot of debate regarding the strategy adopted by the stakeholders to clean the esteros to revive the biologically dead pasgi river. This study aimed to find if there was any difference in the water quality brought about in the restored estero de paco as compared to the other eseros which are still not rehabiliated. The elevated levels of micronuclei observed in the erythrocytes of the genetic model, the Swiss albino mice exposed to water samples from both sources indicate the presence of genotoxic and hazardous pollutants in the water bodies of estero de paco and estero de vitas. Further, the water samples from estero de vitas was found to be far more genotoxic as compared to the water samples from estero de paco (p<0.05). The presence of micronuclei (genotoxicity) could be related to the presence of heavy metals in the water samples as well as the tissues of the mice as detected by the Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The results also suggest an improvement in the physico-chemical parameters such as the biochemical oxygen demand (B.O.D.), dissolved oxygen (D.O), and pH of the water samples from estero de paco as compared to estero de vitas. This study established that the restoration of the esteros can be an effective approach to control pollution of the Pasig river system hence mouse micronucleus test in combination with physico-chemical testing along with heavy metal analysis could be used effectively for regular environmental biomonitoring to control the pollution levels of water bodies flowing into the Pasig river system.