Analysis of mutagenic and cytotoxic effects in lead treated Hordeum vulgare

The toxicity of heavy metals in soil and water is a dangerous environmental problem that affects every region of the planet. Their toxicity is mostly caused by their bioaccumulation. Heavy elements have been reported to cause a variety of chromosomal alterations, such as chromosome stickiness, chromosomal bridges, and the creation of laggards, which have been seen to interfere with the usual pattern of mitotic and meiotic divisions. Due to such disturbances in chromosomal patterns certain physical characters are also severely affected. Heavy metals were reported to be able to provoke many diseases in humans. Higher plants serve as a good model for assessing the genotoxicity of environmental contaminants since their chromosomes are simple to characterize in terms of size, shape, and quantity and react to toxin treatment similarly to those of mammals and other eukaryotes. Certain heavy metals in toxic concentration may cause generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which may cause damage to various macromolecules present in living cells. To demonstrate the genotoxic effects of various quantities of heavy metal salts like lead administered for diverse periods, the current investigation was undertaken with H. vulgare. The results suggested that exposure to high lead concentration is cytotoxic as well as genotoxic for H. vulgare. Heavy metal action is not only dose dependent but also time dependent. The result also showed that apart from genotoxic effect of lead, certain physical attributes like seed germination and seedling length of the plant investigated are also altered.