Genotoxic effects of sunlight-activated waste water in cultured mammalian cells

Cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells were incubated with dilutions of an oil shale retort process water and exposed to natural sunlight. An enhancement of sevenfold to ninefold was seen in photoinduced cytotoxicity (by a colony-forming assay) and mutagenicity [at the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) locus] for cells pretreated with the process water compared to effects seen in cells exposed to sunlight only. Significant photoinduced cytotoxicity was also observed in cultured human skin fibroblasts when exposed to the process water before being exposed to near UV (NUV) radiation. The mutation frequencies (determined for the HPRT locus) induced by the process water and NUV radiation were as great as those frequencies seen for far UV light alone. Increases in genotoxicity were observed in excision repair-deficient xeroderma pigmentosum skin fibroblasts when compared to the responses seen in normal cells. Risks to health resulting from the phototransformation of these oil shale retort process waste waters are unassessed at this time.