Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ASSESSMENT OF GENOTOXIC EFFECTS OF TWO NICKEL SALTS IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

A. Anandkumar, Niraj K.Tripathy and Bidut P. Mohanty

Abstract

The possible genotoxic effects of nickel chloride and nickel nitrate were studied in the wing primordia and male germ line cells of Drosophila rnelanogaster. Larvae, 2nd and 3rd instar, carrying recessive genetic markers rnwh and Fir' in a high bioactive background were exposed to sublethal doses of the test compounds to detect their possible genetic effects in the wing primordia. The sex-linked recessive lethal test was performed using the Basc technique to study the genotoxic effects of these compounds in the germ line cells. The results indicate that while nickel chloride is genotoxic, nickel nitrate is nongenotoxic in the somatic and germ line cells of Drosophila.