LAUSR

Bioassays have been used to complement chemical characterization of aquatic mutagenicity, but the tests are usually done only with water liquid phase. Particle-bound mutagens are usually ignored, although they can be ingested by filtering organisms. Our objective was to evaluate the mutagenicity of organic extracts of the liquid phase (LP) and the water suspended particulate matter (SPM) from 13 sites along Danube River with the Salmonella/microsome microsuspension assay using TA98, YG1041, TA1538 and YG5185 strains. A high incidence of mutagenicity was detected, 84% for LP and 92% for SPM samples. The contribution of SPM to the mutagenicity was relatively small when compared to LP however, for 5 sites SPM was responsible for the whole mutagenicity, highlighting the importance of analyzing SPM when assessing water mutagenicity. YG1041 was the most sensitive strain and should be considered in future water mutagenicity monitoring programs, but it will depend on the main pollution sources. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.