Impact of Common Cytostatics on DNA Damage in Freshwater Mussels Unio pictorum and Unio tumidus

The impact of etoposide (ETO), vincristine sulfate (VIN), and cisplatin (CP) on the DNA damage level was studied in vivo and in vitro on hemocytes of freshwater mussels Unio sp. (Unio pictorum/Unio tumidus) using the alkaline comet assay. For in vivo experiments, the mussels were exposed in static system for 72 h. For in vitro experiments, treatment was performed in primary cultures of hemocytes for 22 h. The DNA damage level was analyzed by Comet Assay IV software. Increase of damage was detected for ETO (40 and 100 mu M) in vivo and in vitro and for VIN (0.04 and 0.1 mu M) in vivo. CP did not induce an increase of DNA damage, but post-treatment with hydrogen peroxide indicated existence of DNA crosslinks in specimens treated with 4 mu M CP. Effective concentrations of selected cytostatics are at least one (CP) or several orders of magnitude (ETO, VIN) higher comparing to the concentrations in hospital wastewater.