title: Genotoxic effects of wastewater from an oncological ward.
abstract: Aim of this study was the evaluation of the genotoxic activities of hospital wastewaters. Samples from an oncological ward of the general hospital of Vienna, Austria, were tested in the Salmonella/microsome assay in strains TA98, TA100 and TA1535 with or without metabolic activation, and in the single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay with primary rat hepatocytes. In the bacterial tests, consistently negative results were obtained while in the experiments with liver cells a significant and dose-dependent induction of DNA damage (up to two-fold over the background) was found. Membrane filtration resulted in a substantial (62-77%) reduction of these effects, while additional treatments (activated carbon filtration and UV-irradiation) did not lead to a further decrease of the genotoxic activity of the samples. SCGE experiments with cisplatin, carboplatin and 5-fluorouracil, which were detected in the water samples, showed that these cytostatics cause a significant induction of DNA damage only at concentrations that are substantially higher than those in the native waters. These findings indicate that other chemicals, possibly quaternary ammonium compounds, account for the effects of the hospital wastewaters.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cancer Research, Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Borschkegasse 8a, 1090 Vienna Austria.
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferk
authors.forename: Miroslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Misík
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grummt
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Majer
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fuerhacker
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buchmann
authors.forename: Marius
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vital
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uhl
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lenz
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grillitsch
authors.forename: Wolfram
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Parzefall
authors.forename: Armen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nersesyan
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knasmüller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000633:toxicity; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000633:toxicity; D020552:Comet Assay; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000187:drug effects; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000633:toxicity; D006761:Hospitals; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D051381:Rats; D014866:Waste Products / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D014866:Waste Products; D016190:Carboplatin; D002945:Cisplatin; D005472:Fluorouracil