Abstract
Cladophora sp., a fresh water, filamentous, multi-nucleate alga growing 16 days in the presence of cadmium and chromium at concentrations 10-4 10-8M was the subject of the experiment. Chromium ions reduced the number of nuclei and mitotic activity, and disturbed the correlation between cell length and number of nuclei, more than cadmium ions. Moreover, both tested metals caused the disappearance of cells with numerous nuclei with time of the culture. Only during the first (1-4) days of culture for both metals the concentration of 10-4M and especially of 10-8M increased the number of nuclei, mitotic index and the length of cells. Apical cells were more sensitive to metals than other thallus cells.
Keywords
metals; number of nuclei; mitotic activity; cell length; Cladophora sp.