Toxicity Assessment of Biologically Degraded Product of Textile Dye Acid Maroon V

Abstract

Azo dyes are subjected to environmental concern as a result of their resistance to degradation. Some decolorized and degraded products of a variety of azo dyes are toxic and mutagenic to flora and fauna. The toxic activity of azo dyes is also dependent on the type and position of the aromatic rings and amino nitrogen atoms. Several reviews have been focusses so far on the biodegradation of azo dye pollutants, although the significance of their biodegraded product has not been evaluated. In view of this gap, we have studied the impact of degradation products of di-azo textile dye Acid Maroon V by novel bacterial isolate Bacillus subtilis C3. The HeLa cell line and human lymphocyte cells were employed to test the genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of Acid Maroon V and its breakdown products, respectively. The Acid Maroon V degradation products showed similar activity to its parent dye in MTT assay. However, when compared to the positive control mitomycin, neither the sister chromatid exchange assay nor the chromosome aberration assay revealed any appreciable chromosomal changes.