Abstract:
Bromoform and Chloroform are trihalomethanes and are among the most
frequently detected drinking water disinfection by-products. They have been associated
with various adverse effects on human haematological parameters, which are an
important indicators of well-being. The prime objective of current study was to conduct a
dose-response assessment to investigate the genotoxic and haematological effects of
trihalomethanes on humans. Blood samples of healthy subjects were exposed to different
concentrations (10, 30 and 50 μg/mL) of chloroform and bromoform in vitro to analyse
how these compounds affected the haematological count with increasing dose
concentrations. Headspace gas chromatography analysis was also conducted on samples
to assess the difference between measured and spiked values of doses. Comet assay
results showed that mean tail lengths values for bromoform (13.6, 23.0, 46.6 μm) were
higher than chloroform (13.4, 22.4, 36.8 μm) at the three observed doses, depicting that
bromoform has a higher genotoxic potential. Other indexes included were %DNA in Tail
(%) and Olive Tail Moment (OTM) which showed the same trend. The haematology
results indicated that the target compounds affected some haematological parameters in a
dose dependant way. Haemoglobin (HGB) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin
concentration (MCHC) levels lowered as they were significantly affected (P<0.05) by
bromoform at all administered doses whereas the platelet (PLT) and red blood cell
(RBC)count lowered significantly (P<0.05) only at at doses 30 μg/mL and 50 μg/mL.
Conversely the damage caused by chloroform was minor (P>0.05). Both the compounds
had no significant effect (P>0.05) on hematocrit (HCT) and white blood cell levels
(WBC) as compared to the control.
