Investigation of animal and algal bioassays for reliable saxitoxin ecotoxicity and cytotoxicity risk evaluation

Contamination of water bodies by saxitoxin can result in various toxic effects in aquatic organisms. Saxitoxin contamination has also been shown to be a threat to human health in several reported cases, even resulting in death. In this study, we evaluated the sensitivity of animal (Neuro-2A) and alg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecotoxicology and environmental safety 2011-05, Vol.74 (4), p.1021-1026
Main Authors: Perreault, François, Seleme Matias, Marcelo, Pedroso Melegari, Silvia, de Carvalho Pinto, Catia Regina Silva, Ekué Creppy, Edmond, Popovic, Radovan, Gerson Matias, William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Applied ecology
aquatic organisms
Aquatic Organisms - drug effects
Bioassay
bioassays
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Assay
Cell Line
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - drug effects
Contamination
Cytotoxicity
DNA Methylation - drug effects
Ecotoxicity
Ecotoxicology
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Human
human health
human population
Neuro-2A
Photosynthesis - drug effects
Photosystem II Protein Complex - metabolism
Phytoplankton - drug effects
Risk
Risk Assessment
Saxitoxin
Saxitoxin - toxicity
surface water
Toxic
Toxicity
Toxicity Tests
Toxicology
water pollution
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Summary:Contamination of water bodies by saxitoxin can result in various toxic effects in aquatic organisms. Saxitoxin contamination has also been shown to be a threat to human health in several reported cases, even resulting in death. In this study, we evaluated the sensitivity of animal (Neuro-2A) and algal ( Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) bioassays to saxitoxin effect. Neuro-2A cells were found to be sensitive to saxitoxin, as shown by a 24 h EC50 value of 1.5 nM, which was obtained using a cell viability assay. Conversely, no saxitoxin effect was found in any of the algal biomarkers evaluated, for the concentration range tested (2–128 nM). These results indicate that saxitoxin may induce toxic effects in animal and human populations at concentrations where phytoplankton communities are not affected. Therefore, when evaluating STX risk of toxicity, algal bioassays do not appear to be reliable indicators and should always be conducted in combination with animal bioassays.
ISSN:0147-6513
1090-2414
DOI:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2011.01.016