Evaluation of the toxic effect of metals on the cells of Pseudomonas putida k12 in acute and chronic experiments

The article is dedicated to one of the most important issues of public health-sanitary and toxicological characteristics of drinking water. The study is focused on the investigation of natural detoxification of heavy metals by the microflora in the human organism. Pseudomonas putida k12, a Gram-negative, facultative, non spore-forming gammaproteobacteria has been chosen as a model object; it was used in aerobic and anaerobic experiments simulating ecto- and endosymbiotic conditions of the organism development. The assessment of the impact of heavy metals on the microflora is important for understanding the role of microbiota in detoxification, for the estimation of microbial imbalance induced by metals intoxication, and for the development of novel drugs for treatment of acute and chronic intoxication with various metals. The article includes some fundamental data on the magnitude of toxic effect of a wide range of metals used in chronic and acute experiments and obtained by either classic microbiological methods or using a biosensor with a modified Clark electrode with immobilized cells. Our findings suggest a 40-500 fold reduction of the toxic effects of heavy metals on prokaryotic cells compared to the human organism through the use of specific microbial detoxification mechanisms