The Genotoxicity of High-Dose Benzene Derivatives in Indoor Air on Vicia faba Root Tips

The micronucleus(MCN) test in the root tip of Vicia faba has been widely used in biomonitoring genotoxicity in water.The sensitive Songzi Green horsebeans,used as test materials,were cultivated in the hermetic vessels,which is used for simulating indoor air circumvent contaminated by high-dose benzene derivatives.Then,the micronucleuses in the Vicia faba root tip cells were detected by microscopes.The results analyzed with Pollution Index(PI) and t-Test show that benzene,methylbenzene and dimethylbenzene have a genotoxicity to the Vicia faba root tip cells.Three linear equations,which were set up after analyzing the dose-effect correlation,show a linear relation between the dose and the frequency of micronucleus.The study also indicates that it is feasible to use the micronucleus test in the root tip of Vicia faba in detecting the contamination caused by high-dose benzene derivatives in indoor air.