Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Cell and Molecular Biology
Session: 2
Room: Virginia A
Djene Keita - Texas Southern University
Houston is one of the largest coastal cities in the United States and is home to an estimated 2.3 million people and growing. Houston is known as the ‘Bayou City’ housing several waterways that flow through the surrounding areas. Consequently, rapid urbanization to sustain its continuously growing population is resulting in the threat to environmental and ecological health. Soil samples were collected along the Brays, Buffalo, Greens, Halls, Hunting, and White Oak Bayous during the summer (before Harvey) and winter (after Harvey) periods to observe the cytotoxic effects on HT-29 gut epithelial cells. The soil samples were collected from 18 sites from 3 different depths (0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, and 20-30 cm) along the bayous mentioned earlier. The samples were reconstituted in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and diluted in complete growth medium into 100% (PBS), 75% 50%, 25%, 12.5% and 0% (control) concentrations of soil and exposed to the HT-29 cells. Buffalo Bayou was the most cytotoxic for pre- and post- Harvey out of all of the bayous studied followed by Halls Bayou. White Oak Bayou decreased cell growth post-Harvey when compared to pre-Harvey soil samples. Greens Bayou didn’t show any significant cytotoxic change for pre- or post- Harvey samples. Brays Bayou decreased cell growth downstream of the bayou. All of the bayous studied had the most cytotoxic effect post-Harvey when compared to pre-Harvey. Future studies will include determining the cell signaling pathways through which these samples affect the cytotoxicity of the cells.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This project was supported by NSF-RISE and NSF-SURE through Texas Southern University NSF HRD-1829184; NSF HRD 1622993 and HRD-1345173.
Faculty Advisor: Shishir Shishodia, shishir.shishodia@tsu.edu
Role: I performed all of the research.