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Environmental Science and Pollution Research

, Volume 26, Issue 2, pp 2013–2021 | Cite as

An insight into the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and mutagenicity of smoked cigarette butt leachate by using Allium cepa as test system

  • Mateus Flores Montalvão
  • Lorrana Lucas Gomes Sampaio
  • Huan Henrique Ferreira Gomes
  • Guilherme MalafaiaEmail author
Short Research and Discussion Article
First Online:
  • 77 Downloads

Abstract

Smoked cigarette butt (SCB) discharged in the environment became an issue of unknown consequences for plants. Thus, we aim at assessing the impact of water containing SBC leachate on the meristem cells of Allium cepa roots. We defined the following experimental groups: negative control (water), positive control (cyclophosphamide); water with SCB leachate at environmental concentration (1.9 μg/L of nicotine) (EC1× group) and water with SCB leachate concentration 1000 times higher than EC1 (EC1000× group). Mitotic index, total number of abnormal cells, index of abnormal cells per mitotic/phase, relative growth index, and inhibition index were calculated after 48 exposure hours. Root meristems were used to prepare slides in order to investigate chromosomal and nuclear abnormalities. According to our data, plants exposed to SCB leachate presented low relative growth index, high inhibition index, large number of abnormal cells, and high abnormality frequency at metaphase/anaphase. The exposed A. cepa recorded a wide variety of abnormalities such as diagonal metaphase/anaphase, metaphase/anaphase presenting chromosome fragments, binucleated cells, displaced nucleus, chromosome bridges, micronuclei, necrotic cells, stick metaphase, chromosome adherence, notched nucleus, among other cell disturbances. The chemicals in the SBC leachate had aneugenic and clastogenic effect on the genetic material of the tested plants, either when they acted individually, synergistically, or additively. Thus, our study is a pioneer in reporting that the mere disposal of cigarette butts in the environment can have cytotoxic, genotoxic, and mutagenic effects on plants.

Keywords

Cigarette Mutagenic Environmental pollution 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to CNPq for granting the scholarship to the student who developed the study. Moreover, the authors thank Dr. Ivandilson Pessoa Pinto de Menezes for your help in methodological procedures.

Funding information

This study was financially supported by the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) (Brazilian research agency) (Proc. N. 467801/2014-2) and Goiano Federal Institute (Proc. No. 23218.000286/2017-21).

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Mateus Flores Montalvão
    • 1
    • 2
  • Lorrana Lucas Gomes Sampaio
    • 2
  • Huan Henrique Ferreira Gomes
    • 1
  • Guilherme Malafaia
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    Email author
  1. 1.Post-graduation Program in Cerrado Natural Resource Conservation - Biological Research LaboratoryGoiano Federal InstitutionUrutaíBrazil
  2. 2.Laboratório de Pesquisas BiológicasInstituto Federal GoianoUrutaíBrazil
  3. 3.Post-graduation Program in ChemistryFederal University of GoiásGoiâniaBrazil

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