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. 2023 Dec 19;12(1):3.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms12010003.

Direct Impact of the Air on Mutant Cells for Mutagenicity Assessments in Urban Environments

Chiara Caredda  1 , Elena Franchitti  1 , Giorgio Gilli  1 , Cristina Pignata  1 , Deborah Traversi  1
Affiliations

Direct Impact of the Air on Mutant Cells for Mutagenicity Assessments in Urban Environments

Chiara Caredda et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Background: Urban air pollution is recognized as a critical problem for public health and is classified as a carcinogen for humans. A great number of studies have focused on the monitoring of urban air mutagenicity. One of the best-known and applied methods for assessing mutagenicity is the Ames test, a bacterial reverse mutation test. The classic protocol for assessing air mutagenicity involves the concentration of particulate matter (PM) on filters and subsequent extraction using organic solvents. This work aimed to develop a method for the evaluation of air mutagenicity directly impacted by air on microbial plates already containing an Ames' microbial sensor.

Methods: A specific six-month sampling campaign was carried out in Turin in a period with high air pollution. Samples were tested for mutagenicity on Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98, TA100, and YG1024 with the traditional method and with the new direct method.

Results: The new protocol is able to evaluate the mutagenicity of the sampled air and obtain repeatable results. The final sensitivity is similar to the traditional method (≈10 net revertants/m3); however, the mutagenic response is due to the complete air pollution mixture, including volatile and semivolatile pollutants avoiding the concentration of filters and the following laborious extraction procedures.

Conclusions: Despite some critical issues in contamination control, the method is easier, faster, and less expensive than traditional methods.

Keywords: Salmonella assay; air pollution; mutagenicity; urban environment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scatter plot of the overall net revertants observed during the experiments both for the direct methods (three tested volumes) and the traditional methods (first three volumes tested).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box plot of the mutagenicity observed (Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA1001, and YG1024 net revertants/m3) in the same sampling point and days with the two different methods: the direct method and the classic method. Circles represent the outliers, asterisks the extreme outliers.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Dispersion matrix of the mutagenicity results obtained using direct and traditional tests with the different collected air pollution parameters.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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