Toxicity assessment of reference and natural freshwater sediments with the LuminoTox assay (original) (raw)
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Nova Biotechnologica et Chimica, 2012
This study presents the results of the testing toxicity of the contaminated sediments from the water reservoir of Ružín No.I deposit (Slovak Republic) by using Phytotoxkit tests (MicroBioTests Inc., Belgium). The Phytotoxkit system is a screening tool used for a variety of toxicity testing applications. The advantages of this toxicity bioassay are its speed, relative simplicity and low cost compared to chemical analysis and many other biotests. Evaluation of sediments phytotoxicity was based on the testing of seed germination and the assesment of the root growth decrease of the plant Sinapis alba which allows to complete the assays after only 3 days of incubacion. Chemical analysis of the sediment samples involved determination of heavy metal (Cu, Zn, Ni, As, Sb and Hg) concentration. No potential phytotoxic effect of heavy metals in contaminated sediments was observed in the majority of tested seeds of Sinapis alba.
Assessing sediment contamination using six toxicity assays
Journal of Limnology, 2001
An evaluation of sediment toxicity at Lake Orta, Italy was conducted to compare a toxicity test battery of 6 assays and to evaluate the extent of sediment contamination at various sediment depths. Lake Orta received excessive loadings of copper and ammonia during the 1900's until a large remediation effort was conducted in 1989-90 using lime addition. Since that time, the lake has shown signs of a steady recovery of biological communities. The study results showed acute toxicity still exists in sediments at a depth of 5 cm and greater. Assays that detected the highest levels of toxicity were two whole sediment exposures (7 d) using Hyalella azteca and Ceriodaphnia dubia. The Microtox R assay using pore water was the third most sensitive assay. The Thamnotox, Rototox, Microtox solid phase, and Seed Germination-Root Elongation (pore and solid phase) assays showed occasional to no toxicity. Based on similarity of responses and assay sensitivity, the two most useful assays were the C. dubia (or H. azteca) and Microtox pore water. These assays were effective at describing sediment toxicity in a weight-of-evidence approach.
International Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2010
The potential toxicity in riverbed sediments was assessed with a bioassay using the bioluminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri. The selected area was characterized by the presence of ultramafic rocks (peridotites), and the sediments had high values in Ni, Cr, and Co. For the toxicity bioassay with Vibrio fischeri, water-soluble forms were used. The results indicated that most of the samples had a very low degree of toxicity, with 10% of reduction in luminescence in relation to the control; meanwhile 25% of the samples had a moderate degree of toxicity with a reduction in luminescence between 13 and 21% in relation to the control. The toxicity index correlated significantly with the concentrations of Ni and Cr in the water extracts. This toxicity bioassay was proved to be a sensitive and useful tool to detect potential toxicity in solutions, even with anomalous concentrations in heavy metals of natural origin.
Ecotoxicological testing of sediments and dredged material: an overlooked opportunity?
Journal of Soils and Sediments
Purpose Basing decisions for the management of contaminated sediments on ecotoxicological data is still often met with skepticism by European stakeholders. These concerns are discussed as they pertain to bioassays to show how ecotoxicological data may provide added value for the sustainable management of sediment in aquatic systems. Materials and methods Five “concerns” are selected that are often raised by stakeholders. The ecotoxicological practice is discussed in light of the knowledge gained in recent decades and compared with chemical sediment analysis and chemical data. Results and discussion Common assumptions such as a higher uncertainty of biotest results for sediments compared to chemical analyses are not supported by interlaboratory comparisons. Some confusion also arises, because the meaning of biotest data is often misunderstood, questioning their significance in light of a limited number of organisms and altered test conditions in the lab. Because biotest results descr...
A comparison of acute and chronic toxicity methods for marine sediments
Marine Environmental Research, 2009
Sediment toxicity tests are valuable tools for assessing the potential effects of 22 contaminated sediments in dredged material evaluations because they inherently address 23 complexity (e.g., unknown contaminants, mixtures, bioavailability). Although there is a need to 24 understand the chronic and sublethal impacts of contaminants, it is common to conduct only 25 short-term lethality tests in evaluations of marine sediments. Chronic toxicity methods for 26 marine sediments have been developed but the efficacy of these methods is less documented. In 27 this evaluation of marine sediments collected from the New York / New Jersey (NY/NJ) Harbor, 28 three 10-day acute toxicity test methods (Ampelisca abdita, Leptocheirus plumulosus, 29
Aquatic Toxicology, 2009
A combination of cost effective sublethal Daphnia magna feeding tests, yeast-and cell culture-based bioassays and Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) procedures was used to characterize toxic compounds within sediments collected in a river area under the influence of the effluents from a chlor-alkali industry (Ebro River, NE Spain). Tests were designed to measure and identify toxic compounds in the particulate and filtered water fractions of sediment elutriates. The combined use of bioassays responding to elutriates and dioxin-like compounds evidenced the existence of three major groups of hazardous contaminants in the most contaminated site: (A) metals such as cadmium and mercury bound to sediment fine particles that could be easily resuspended and moved downstream, (B) soluble compounds (presumably, lye) able to alkalinize water to toxic levels, and (C) organochlorine compounds with high dioxin-like activity. These results provided evidence that elutriate D. magna feeding responses can be used as surrogate assays for more tedious chronic whole sediment tests, and that the incorporation of such tests in sediment TIE procedures may improve the ability to identify the toxicity of particle-bound and water-soluble contaminants in sediments.
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 2010
The present study represents the first broader evaluation of the rapid 30-s kinetic bioluminescence assay with Vibrio fisheri (microplate format modification) for contact toxicity testing of whole sediments. The present study focused on river sediments from the Morava River basin, Czech Republic, repeatedly sampled during 2005 to 2006 and analyzed for geological and geochemical parameters, content of toxic metals, major organic pollutants, and toxicity. High natural variation in toxicity (50% inhibitory concentration [IC50] values ranging from 0.8 to >80 mg sediment dry wt/ml) was found (among different sampling periods and years, among sites), and this could be related to the sediment dynamics affected by spring high flows and summer droughts. From the 46 sediment descriptors, exchangeable protons (H þ ) was the only parameter that consistently correlated with toxicity. Three other descriptors (i.e., content of organic carbon plus two parameters from the detailed silicate analysis of sediments: percentage of SO 3 representing total sulfur content, structural water H 2 Oþ) also significantly correlated with toxicity. There were only minor and variable correlations with contamination. We propose sediment safety guideline categories for the V. fisheri kinetic test with severe toxicity threshold of IC50 < 1 mg dry wt/ml. Although sediments are considered a rather stable matrix in comparison with river water, we confirmed high variability and dynamics that should be reflected in monitoring plans and field studies.