Detection of genotoxicity in the marine environment: a preliminary feasibility study using primary mussel tissue culture.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and potential usefulness of primary cultures of somatic tissues from adult mussel by means of sister chromatid exchange induction (SCE). This research is an initial pilot study carried out with mussel mantle tissue using seawater artificially contaminated with cadmium and polluted seawater from the port of Arcachon. With regard to cadmium concentration, mean SCE numbers showed a progressive increase from 1.07 +/- 0.18 per diploid cell in controls (i.e. cultures without contaminant) to 2.91 +/- 0.42 per diploid cell for the highest concentration, 10 - 4 M. With regard to the medium prepared with seawater from the port of Arcachon, the mean SCE number reached a value of 5.85+/- 0.85 per diploid cell. The analysis of SCEs induced by cadmium showed DNA responses even at the lowest concentration (i.e. 10 - 7 M). The study demonstrates the feasibility of the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) approach based upon primary mussel tissue culture, for the genotoxicity testing of contaminated seawater. Highlights from this procedure are (1) the presence of an active cell proliferation, (2) the use whole-water samples, (3) the possibility of culturing without serum, (4) the absence of cell dissociation before culturing and (5) a cellular proliferation which can be obtained in cultures carried out in a medium containing seawater whose salinity is comprise between 28 and 35 per thousand.