Environmental contamination and toxicity indicators of the population living in the Mundaú-Manguaba Lagoon Complex area (Maceió-AL)

• Grant number: 19/25321-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2021
• End date: January 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Toxicological Analysis
• Agreement: CONFAP - National Council of State Research Support Foundations
• Principal Investigator: Helena Coutinho Franco de Oliveira
• Grantee: Helena Coutinho Franco de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ana Catarina Rezende Leite ; Aníbal Eugênio Vercesi ; Chiara Rachel Maciel Marinho ; Daniela Santos Anunciacao ; Nadja Cristhina de Souza Pinto ; Raphael de Souza Pinto ; Thiago Mendonça de Aquino

Abstract

This project aims to confirm that environmental contamination in the Mundaú-Manguaba Lagoon Complex (CELMM, Maceió-AL) affects the health of the local population. In order to test this hypothesis and increase knowledge about this environment, previous data on environmental and biochemical indicators of volunteers living in CELMM were taken as reference. Thus, regarding the environmental scope, this project intends to identify the main sources of contamination by analyzing water, sediment and food (sururu) in terms of the total concentrations of Hg and Pb, as well as the mercury speciation. The impacts on the population that lives in the surroundings of CELMM exposed to inorganic contaminants will be measured by different toxicity indicators, monitoring a broad spectrum of cellular markers resulting from redox state and metabolic variations in the volunteers group exposed to the contamined environment as compared with a control non-exposed group. Finally, it is expected that the results obtained from this proposal, after dissemination, may lead to efficient management mechanisms capable of guaranteeing social transformations for implementation and/or maintenance of environmental safety and health quality standards. In addition, it is expected a relevant contribution to the scientific development of groups in the Institutions of Alagoas and São Paulo States. (AU)