Assessment of the genotoxicity of olive mill waste water (OMWW) with the Vicia faba micronucleus test

Houda El Hajjouji (1, 2) , Eric Pinelli (2) , Agnès Maritchù Guiresse (2) , Georges Merlina (2) , Jean-Claude Revel (2) , Mohamed Hafidi (1)

1 Laboratoire d'écologie Végétale, Sol et Environnement (Marrakech, Morocco)
2 LEFE - Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement

The present study concerns the genotoxicity of olive mill waste water (OMWW) generated in mills producing olive oil in Morocco. The Vicia faba micronucleus test was used to evaluate the genotoxicity of OMWW and the six major phenolic compounds identified by HPLC in this effluent. Five dilutions of OMWW were tested: 0.1, 1, 5, 10 and 20%. Maleic hydrazide was used as a positive control. The results showed that OMWW was genotoxic at 10% dilution. In order to investigate the components involved in this genotoxicity, the six major phenols present in this effluent, oleuropein, gallic acid, 4-hydroxyphenyl acetic acid, caffeic acid, paracoumaric acid and veratric acid, were studied at concentrations corresponding to the genotoxic concentration of the OMWW itself. Two phenols, gallic acid and oleuropein induced a significant increase in micronucleus frequency in Vicia faba; the four other phenols had no significant genotoxic effect. These results suggest that under the experimental conditions of our assay, OMWW genotoxicity was associated with gallic acid and oleuropein.

Mots clés: Olive mill waste water; Genotoxicity; Micronucleus assay; Vicia faba; Phenolic compounds

Domaines: Ecologie, Environnement

Houda El Hajjouji, Eric Pinelli, Agnès Maritchù Guiresse, Georges Merlina, Jean-Claude Revel, et al.. Assessment of the genotoxicity of olive mill waste water (OMWW) with the Vicia faba micronucleus test. Mutation Research - Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, 2007, 6 (1-2), pp.25-31. ⟨10.1016/j.mrgentox.2007.05.015⟩. ⟨hal-03591368⟩