Pashkovska O.

Chernivtsi lyceum № 3, Ukraine

The Prospects of Usage оf Palino-monitoring of the Atmosphere Aerosol Pollution Caused by Micro- and Ultra-dispersed Particles

The problem of air pollution by various anthropogenic sources is considered to be one the most essential ecological and social issues at present. According to the NASA data, Ukraine belongs to the countries with most polluted environment. The contaminated air annually kills nearly 500 Ukrainians per 1000 square kilometers, i.e. 301 thousand people.

The size of the atmosphere aerosol particles ranges from about several nana-meters up to a few dozens micro-meters. Whereas the particles over one micro-meter large consist mostly of mineral dust, sea salt and other particles of biological origin, the ones having less than one micrometer in diameter are supposed to be the result of different technological processes. They may present a considerable threat on condition that they contain admixtures of heavy metals and poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The concentration of these particles considerably ranges during a day, or even a week, particularly on the territories with heavy traffic. This generates another serious problem, since numerous substances, absolutely safe in their natural form, get extraordinarily toxic and dangerous after they are ground to micro- and nana- size. The latter danger can be explained by the fact that the particles assume certain properties and biological affects that have not been characteristic for them before. For instance, they may cause genotoxicity and damage DNA, thus generating various nuclear aberrations ( V.F. Moskalenko, O.P. Javorskuj, 2009; I.S. Chekman and coauthors, 2011).

Taking into account the above mentioned phenomena, particular emphases is being laid on the investigations, closely connected with the assessment of the state of the urbanized environment. When supplemented with some information concerning physical and chemical control, the bio-monitoring data come very close to the adequate assessment of the ecological situation. In this case, we might use recent pollen kernels of trees and herbs (palino-monitoring) as the principle objects of bio-monitoring as they are most subject to the negative affect of different constituents of the atmosphere pollution ( O.F. Dzyba, 2007; N.A. Berezina, N.B. Afanasjev, 2009). Particularly, it has been ascertained that plants produce a great number of teratomorphic and sterile pollen kernels when they grow in ecologically polluted environment (Erokhina I.S., Elkina N.A., 2011; V.P. Bessonova, 2013). The research of certain morphological peculiarities of pollen kernels does not only prove the presence of different hameto-pathogenic substances in the environment, but also provides a comparatively accurate assessment of polluted zones without applying the method of direct mutation accounting. Besides, there is no need to apply expensive equipment in conducting research of this sort. The basic advantages of this method are the speed with which the experiments are performed and the ability to screen as many samples as possible.

The objective of the investigation under discussion lay in working out the method of palino-monitoring of the aerosol air pollution by micro- and ultra-dispersed particles with the application of the parameters of nuclear chromatin coloring in pollen kernels (on the example of Chrysanthemum Morifolium).

A complex assessment of the dispersed constitution of the aerosol air pollution on the territory of Chernivtsi has been performed. The monitoring of the minute air particles has been conducted by means of the portable device Met One GT-321. The particles with the size of 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 micro-meters have been registered during the research. Depending on the obtained results we have differentiated zones with high and moderate pollution, as well as the conventionally clean territories.

The above mentioned territories have provided our research with the required plants (Chrysanthemum Morifolium). The pollen kernels have been separated from the polls; wiring in the ascending ethanol battery and paraffin pouring at the temperature 56⁰C (in order to preserve the nuclear parameters) have been performed in the course of the investigation. The obtained paraffin microtomic cuts 5 micro-meters thick were painted in azure-2-eosin which enables to achieve the contrast coloring of the nuclear chromatin. The substances have been examined in the traversed light by the means of the microscope Delta Optical Evolution 100 with the application of the glass lens 40-x. Then the digital copies have been made with the help of the digital camera Olympus SP 550 UZ.

The arithmetic mean of the coloring optical density (in optical density relative units in the range “0 – 1”), as well as the index of the mean-square deviation of the coloring optical density have been calculated by means of the computer program GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program) Portable 2.213. The calculation of the coloring optical density variations coefficient (in percent) has been made by means of dividing the magnitude of the mean-square coloring optical density deviation by the arithmetic mean of the coloring optical density multiplied by 100.

The coloring optical density variation coefficient of the pollen kernels nuclear chromatin of the Chrysanthemum on the investigated territories made 11.6±0.53%.

The same index in the zone of moderate pollution must have exceeded the basic one by 47.8% (P<0.001). It should be noted that the coloring optical density variation coefficient of the nuclear chromatin of the plants’ pollen kernels, found in the area of aerosol pollution, twice exceeded the one from the conventionally clean zone (with a high verity degree P<0.001).

The growth of the coloring optical density variation coefficient proves the increase of the pollen kernels nuclear heterogeneity as the result of the euchromatin reduction. Besides, we may draw a conclusion that the increase of the pollen kernels nuclear heterogeneity may reflect the active processes of apoptosis, which are traditionally accompanied by the phenomena of the nuclear chromatin condensation and margination.

Thus, the suggested method of palino-monitoring with the application of the parameters of the pollen kernels nuclear chromatin coloring gives the opportunity not only to perform the indication of the air aerosol pollution in a certain area, but also to determine the degree of the nuclear activity regarding the DNA involvement in various synthetic processes.