Textile Effluents Induce Biomarkers of Acute Toxicity, Oxidative Stress, and Genotoxicity

The present work consists of a comparative evaluation of the toxicity of a nonremediated textile effluent (NRTE) with an effluent remediated by a pulverized chitosan system (RCTS) or by a conventional effluent process (remediated biologic and physico-chemical effluent [RBPC]). Acute toxicity assays, oxidative stress biomarkers, physico-chemical parameters, and genotoxicity indices were analyzed to achieve the toxicity of all effluents. After RCTS treatment, approximately 80% of dyes were removed, together with a significant decreased of the metal content, compared with a relatively increase in metal content after RBPC treatment. RBPC and RCTS treatments did not cause acute toxicity to Vibrio fischeri and Artemia sp., whereas RBPC caused acute toxicity to Daphnia magna but RCTS did not. Compared with NRTE, chitosan remediation decreased oxidative stress biomarkers, such as the contents of lipoperoxidation (measured as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances [TBARS], 29.9%) and the reduced form of glutathione (GSH; 73.5%) levels in D. rerio, whereas animals exposed to RBPC showed enhanced TBARS (57.2%) and decreased GSH concentrations (56.4%). RCTS and RBPC remediation elicited catalase activity induction (161.8% and 127.3%, respectively) compared with NRTE. Accordingly, DNA fragmentation and micronucleus frequency in D. rerio decreased after remediation with RBPC or RCTS compared with NRTE, but RCTS treatment was more effective than RBPC in decreasing genotoxicity (90.5% and 73.8% decrease in DNA fragmentation and 67.8% and 50.4% decrease in micronucleus frequency, respectively). The results indicate that chitosan adsorption system is a useful tool for textile effluent remediation compared with the conventional remediation by biologic and physico-chemical processes.