Genotoxicity of platinum in embryos of zebrafish (Danio rerio) and ramshorn snail (Marisa cornuarietis)

The metal platinum is inter alia used for industrial and medical purposes. Due to its application in automobile catalytic converters and as an anti-cancer drug, Pt enters the aquatic environment via road runoff and hospital sewage and raises concerns about its environmental impact and toxicity to organisms. Therefore, the genotoxicity of Pt at 0, 0.1, 1, 10, 50, 100 and 200 μg/l PtCl2 was tested on two freshwater organisms, zebrafish (Danio rerio) and ramshorn snail (Marisa cornuarietis) using the single cell gel electrophoresis, also called comet assay. PtCl2 did not show any genotoxicity for D. rerio at the tested concentrations, whereas significantly elevated DNA damage was observed in M. cornuarietis at 1 μg/l PtCl2 and beyond. The results of the study suggest a high sensitivity of M. cornuarietis concerning the genotoxic impact of PtCl2.

Research highlights
► We tested the genotoxicity of the heavy metal platinum using the comet assay.
► Model organisms were the freshwater species Danio rerio and Marisa cornuarietis.
► Genotoxicity of the tested concentrations was only found for M. cornuarietis.