title: Handling of Astyanax sp. for biomonitoring in Cangüiri Farm within a fountainhead (Iraí River Environment Preservation Area) through the use of genetic biomarkers.
abstract: Aquatic environmental pollution may cause biodiversity loss. Thus, monitoring studies are very important because fish health reflects both quality and sustainability of the environment, as well as of the individuals that live there. In the present report, genetic biomarkers (piscine micronucleus test; comet assay with blood, liver, and kidney cells) were used in specimens of Astyanax sp. to analyze the contamination level of the Cangüiri Farm through biomonitoring. The Cangüiri Farm, the old school farm of the Federal University of Paraná, is inside the Iraí River Environment Preservation Area, created in 1996 to preserve the sources of public water supply in Curitiba and metropolitan area. We verified that the fishes collected within the Cangüiri Farm area presented high damage levels, showing more environment contamination when compared to the specimens collected in the Costa Ecologic Park, used as reference in the present report. The results indicate that the Cangüiri Farm, which is inside an environment protection area, created especially for the protection of the fountainhead for water supply, may be contaminated. These toxic residues, which were remarkably persistent in the environment, are possibly derived from agricultural activities in the wider area. Thus, we suggest the analysis of the area with other biomarkers and for a longer time period.
authors: Departamento de Genética, Laboratório de Mutagênese Ambiental, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. wanessa@ufpr.br
authors: Wanessa Algarte
authors: WA
authors: Ramsdorf
authors: Taynah
authors: T
authors: Vicari
authors: Marina I M
authors: MI
authors: de Almeida
authors: Roberto Ferreira
authors: RF
authors: Artoni
authors: Marta Margarete
authors: MM
authors: Cestari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D060126:Characidae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical