Frequencies of the nuclear anomalies in the carp erythrocytes after exposure to cadmium in conjunction with a low-frequency electromagnetic field

An important problem of ecological genetics is the genetic consequences of the simultaneous action of several mutagenic environmental factors on a living organism. This article presents the results of a study of the frequencies of micronuclei and other nuclear anomalies in the erythrocytes of carps after a 24-hour exposure to cadmium ions and a low-frequency electromagnetic field. The concentration of cadmium ions was 0.0005, 0.001, 0.002, 0.004, 0.005, 0.008 mg / L. The intensity of the low-frequency (50 Hz) electromagnetic field in these 6 variants was 25, 50, 100, 200, 250 and 400 A / m, respectively. The intact carps from the control group had 0.47% of the erythrocytes with micronuclei and 0.75% of cells with all nuclear abnormalities in total. Carps from 6 experimental groups that were simultaneously exposed to two factors had erythrocyte frequencies with micronuclei 0.76 ± 0.12, 0.90 ± 0.13, 0.96 ± 0.14, 0.99 ± 0.14 1.03 ± 0.14, 0.98 ± 0.14%, and the total frequencies of all nuclear anomalies -1.16 ± 0.15, 1.33 ± 0.16, 1.48 ± 0.17, 1, 57 ± 0.18, 1.65 ± 0.18, 1.52 ± 0.18%, respectively. Statistically significant differences between the frequencies of nuclear anomalies in the erythrocytes of fish of the experimental groups were found, both in comparison with the control and with the corresponding variants of the separate exposure of cadmium and the electromagnetic field to them. It was concluded that the combined effect of cadmium and a low-frequency electromagnetic field on fish erythrocytes has a stronger mutagenic effect than the sum of the effects of these factors acting separately.