Genotoxicity of the sediments collected from Pearl River in China and their polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals

The accelerated industrialization and urbanization in the last three decades around the Pearl River Delta within Guangdong Province in China have led to serious concerns about the impacts on the aquatic environment. In the present study, the genotoxicity of the sediments collected from the Pearl River was evaluated by micronucleus (MN) assay with Vicia faba root tip cells, and the 16 EPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals (HMs, including Cr, Cu, As, Se, Cd, Hg, and Pb) in the sediments were determined respectively by GC-MS, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The results showed that there were significant increases of MN frequencies observed in the sediment-exposed groups, compared with the negative group (P?