give off variety of genotoxic compounds.
Direct toxic effects can occur from the contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbon, heavy metals and
pesticides once released to the environment [3]. Carcinogenic and oxidative potential of metal pollution are
considered hazardous to biological system [4] and the exposure of pollutants may directly and/or indirectly affect
the populations and communities abundances with the presence of the toxicants [3]. Mn is one of the common metal
found in the aquatic environment as it may exist in different forms either as compound, or complexes with organic
compounds. It is very difficult to be removed from the water body since it will only precipitate out if the pH is
raised to 10.0 [5]. Mn persists in the environments and has raise concern on how elevated Mn affects the aquatic life
as there are not as many information on their toxicity towards aquatic organism compared to other metals.
Acanthamoeba sp. is a common protist that is found in diverse environment, including aquatic environment. Due to
its ubiquitousness, their properties of being a single cell organism with their uncovered cell wall of trophozoites
makes them sensitive to any change in the environment [6,7]. Thus, this study evaluates the cytotoxicity and
genotoxicity effect of Mn on this free-living amoebae by observation based on their morphological characteristics.
The objectives of this study is to determine the IC50 value of Mn towards Acanthamoeba sp. and to observe
morphological changes in Acanthamoeba sp. as well as genotoxicity evaluation of Mn after exposed to
Acanthamoeba sp. DNA.