Environmental Contamination of Chrysotile Asbestos and Its Toxic Effects on Antioxidative System of Lemna gibba

Asbestos was monitored in various plant samples around an asbestos cement factory. Asbestos residue was found on the surface of all plant samples monitored. Based on asbestos concentration found in different plant samples during monitoring and on the property of asbestos to cause reactive oxygen species-mediated oxidative stress in animal models, laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the toxicity of chrysotile asbestos on an aquatic macrophyte, duckweed (Lemna gibba.). L. gibba plants were exposed to four concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 5.0 μg/mL) of chrysotile asbestos under laboratory conditions, and alterations in the glutathione and ascorbate antioxidative system were estimated at postexposure days 7, 14, 21, and 28 in order to assess changes in their level as suitable biomarkers of chrysotile contamination. Chrysotile exposure caused a decrease in total and reduced glutathione and an enhancement in the oxidized glutathione as well as the reduced/oxidized glutathione ratio. An increase in ascorbate pool size, and reduced as well as oxidized ascorbate was found to be accompanied by a decrease in the ratio of reduced/oxidized ascorbate. Alteration in the glutathione and ascorbate level might be considered as a biomarker of exposure to an unsafe environment because these are essential compounds of the general antioxidative strategy to overcome oxidative stress due to environmental constraints. Because an increase in the oxidation rate of antioxidants weakens cellular defenses and indicates a precarious state, they could constitute indicators of toxicity.