Using human cell culture to assess the toxicity of water (literature review)

The problem of water sources pollution, connected with increasing anthropogenic charge is attracting a lot of attention nowadays. Most of hygienic evaluation methods of water objects are based on physicochemical analysis of water samples. These methods can’t be considered as consistent in determination of full range of pollutants. Sanitary chemical analysis of water environment, coupled with biological testing seems to be more informative. One of the most prospective research trends nowadays is using human cell lines as test objects. During the preparation of this review, there were used following database sources: Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, RISC. As a conclusion of performed sources analysis, we can point at high sensitivity of cell lines, extracted from human digestive (Caco-2, HepG2) and excretory systems (HEK-203) to the influence of pollutants taken from different water sources. The data obtained by the authors indicate both a cytopathic effect and a change in the cytochemical and cytomorphological characteristics of cell cultures under the influence of pollutants in water. The use of human cell cultures as test objects in water biotesting is an urgent direction in the study of water supply sources for drinking and household needs of the population without preliminary purification. The use of human cell cultures in the biotesting of water makes it possible to give not only a toxicological characteristic of water samples, but also to assess the possibility of developing an undesirable effect associated with the ingress of pollutants into the internal environment of the body.