Possible toxic effects on neurons of water from the water system of Bahia Blanca, Argentina.

POLITI, L; JASKOLOWSKI, Q; DE LOS SANTOS B; ROTSTEIN, N

MAR DEL PLATA

Workshop; Workshop OF Red Universidades Bonaerenses (Runbo) Network UNS y el ?Research Centers of the province of Quebec? .; 2014

Red Universidades Bonaerenses (Runbo) Network UNS -CANADA

POSSIBLE TOXIC EFFECTS ON NEURONS OF WATER FROM THE WATER SYSTEM OF BAHIA BLANCA, ARGENTINA Luis Politi (1)(2); Quimey Jaskolowski(2); Beatriz de los Santos(1); and Nora Rotstein(1) )(2) (1)Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca, National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) and (2) Universidad Nacional del Sur Camino La Carrindanga Km 7, 8000 Bahía Blanca, Argentina The main water supply for the approximately 400,000 persons living in Bahia Blanca is the ?Paso de las Piedras? dam. Growing eutrophication has led to the frequent appearance of intense phytoplankton blooms. The dominant species in these blooms are Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena circinalis, known to release harmful cyanotoxins. However, the overall toxicity of each bloom is difficult to predict. We noticed that the occurrence of blooms was coincident with a dramatic increase in cell death in pure neuronal cultures prepared from rat retinas. Since the culture media is prepared with water from the water system, we wondered whether this water might contain toxic substances in spite of its purification by an ?ultrapure? system. Our results showed that addition to either pure neuronal or mixed neuro-glial cultures, of water obtained from the purification system during the blooms significantly affected mitochondrial functionality, caused cytoskeleton alterations, decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis in both neuronal and glial cells. Our results suggest that toxic substances (e.g., cianotoxins) might be present in water from the water system during blooms, which might be harmful to these cells. This would imply the presence of a potential hazard to public health, which demands further and urgent investigation. Funds from: Argentinean National Agency for Science and Technoloy (?Agencia Nacional Para la Ciencia y Tecnología ANPCYT, Secretary of Science and Technology of Universidad Nacional del Sur, and National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET)