Sub-lethal effects of soil multiple contamination on the avoidance behaviour of Eisenia fetida.

Natural ecosystems are frequently exposed to complex mixtures of different chemicals. However, the environmental risk assessment is mainly based on data from individual substances. In this study, the individual and combined effects on the terrestrial earthworm E. fetida exposed to the anionic surfactant sodium lauryl ether sulphate (SLES) and the pesticides chlorpyrifos (CPF) and imidacloprid (IMI) were investigated, by using the avoidance behaviour as endpoint. Earthworms were exposed to a soil artificially contaminated with five sub-lethal concentrations of each contaminant, both as single substances and in combination of binary and ternary mixtures. Overall results showed that IMI provoked the highest avoidance effect on earthworms, with a concentration value that induced an avoidance rate of 50% of treated organisms (AC50) of 1.30 mg/kg, followed by CPF (AC50 75.26 mg/kg) and SLES (AC50 139.67 mg/kg). The application of the Combination Index (CI) method, indicated that a deviation from the additive response occurred for most of the tested chemical mixtures, leading to synergistic or antagonistic avoidance responses. Synergistic effects were produced by the exposure to the two lowest concentrations of the CPF+IMI mixture, and by the highest concentrations of SLES+CPF and SLES+CPF+IMI mixtures. On the contrary, antagonistic effects were observed at the lowest concentrations of the binary mixtures containing the SLES and at almost all the tested concentrations of the SLES+CPF+IMI mixture (with the exception of the highest tested concentration). These results show that the avoidance test is suitable to assess the detrimental effects exerted on earthworms by chemical mixtures in soil ecosystems and the use of behavioural endpoints can increase the ecological significance of environmental risk assessment procedures.

A quantitative structure-activity relationships approach to predict the toxicity of narcotic compounds to aquatic communities.

Species may vary markedly in terms of their sensitivity to toxicants, and such variation can be described through the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) approach. Using SSD cumulative functions, it is possible to calculate the hazardous concentration for 5% of the species (HC5), namely the contaminant concentration at which 5% of species will be affected. HC5 is often utilised to derive the predicted no-effect concentration, or the concentration at which a chemical will likely have no toxic effects on the different species present in an ecosystem. However, the lack of sufficient ecotoxicological data frequently obstructs the derivation of SSD curves and consequently the HC5. In the last 30 years, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models have been widely used to predict the toxicity of chemicals to single species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of extending the applicability domain of these models from single species to the community level by predicting the HC5 values for aquatic communities and bypassing the need to derive SSD curves. This approach's practical advantage is that it would allow information on the toxicity of contaminants to be obtained on a hierarchical scale (aquatic community), which is ecologically more relevant than on the scale of single species, without the need for a robust toxicity data set. In the first part of the study, two simple QSAR models were developed for narcotic and polar narcotic compounds. Then, the QSAR model developed for narcotic compounds was utilised to define the baseline toxicity for aquatic communities and to calculate the toxicity ratios for various specifically acting compounds (insecticides and herbicides).

Behavioural and biochemical alterations by chlorpyrifos in aquatic insects: an emerging environmental concern for pristine Alpine habitats.

This study aimed to assess how different concentrations of the insecticide chlorpyrifos (1.1, 5.24, 11, 52.4, 110, 262, 524 and 1100 ng L-1) affect the swimming behaviour of Diamesa zernyi larvae following exposure. A video tracking system was employed to analyse two swimming traits (total distance moved and average speed) of the larvae simultaneously after 3 days of exposure to the pesticide at 2 °C. The behavioural results were also interpreted according to biochemical responses to oxidative stress (OS) induced by chlorpyrifos, based on malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl (PCC) content. Both distance and speed significantly decreased after 72 h of exposure to chlorpyrifos concentrations of ≥ 110 ng L-1, under which significant OS was detected as lipid peroxidation (level of MDA) and protein carbonylation (level of carbonyl). Analysis of altered swimming behaviour, along with MDA and carbonyl content, indicated that ≥ 110 ng L-1 contamination levels of the insecticide cause the organism to reallocate energy normally used for locomotor activity to repair cell damage, which might explain the strong impairment to locomotor performance. Locomotor performance is an ecologically relevant trait for elucidating the population dynamics of key species, with disturbance to this trait having long-term negative impacts on population and community structure. Therefore, chlorpyrifos insecticides represent a serious ecological risk for mountain aquatic species based on the detrimental effects observed in the current study, as the tested concentrations were those at which the insecticide is found in many Alpine rivers of Italy.

Natural molecule coatings modify the fate of cerium dioxide nanoparticles in water and their ecotoxicity to Daphnia magna.

The ongoing development of nanotechnology has raised concerns regarding the potential risk of nanoparticles (NPs) to the environment, particularly aquatic ecosystems. A relevant aspect that drives NP toxicity is represented by the abiotic and biotic processes occurring in natural matrices that modify NP properties, ultimately affecting their interactions with biological targets. Therefore, the objective of this study was to perform an ecotoxicological evaluation of CeO2NPs with different surface modifications representative of NP bio-interactions with molecules naturally occurring in the water environment, to identify the role of biomolecule coatings on nanoceria toxicity to aquatic organisms. Ad hoc synthesis of CeO2NPs with different coating agents, such as Alginate and Chitosan, was performed. The ecotoxicity of the coated CeO2NPs was assessed on the marine bacteria Aliivibrio fischeri, through the Microtox® assay, and with the freshwater crustacean Daphnia magna. Daphnids at the age of 8 days were exposed for 48 h, and several toxicity endpoints were evaluated, from the molecular level to the entire organism. Specifically, we applied a suite of biomarkers of oxidative stress and neurotoxicity and assessed the effects on behaviour through the evaluation of swimming performance. The different coatings affected the hydrodynamic behaviour and colloidal stability of the CeO2NPs in exposure media. In tap water, NPs coated with Chitosan derivative were more stable, while the coating with Alginate enhanced the aggregation and sedimentation rate. The coatings also significantly influenced the toxic effects of CeO2NPs. Specifically, in D. magna the CeO2NPs coated with Alginate triggered oxidative stress, while behavioural assays showed that CeO2NPs coated with Chitosan induced hyperactivity. Our findings emphasize the role of environmental modification in determining the NP effects on aquatic organisms.

Comparison of the behavioural effects of pharmaceuticals and pesticides on Diamesa zernyi larvae (Chironomidae).

Several studies have indicated the presence of contaminants in Alpine aquatic ecosystems. Even if measured concentrations are far below those that cause acute effects, continuous exposure to sub-lethal concentrations may have detrimental effects on the aquatic species present in these remote environments. This may lead to a cascade of indirect effects at higher levels of the ecological hierarchy (i.e., the community). To improve the determination of ecologically relevant risk endpoints, behavioural alterations in organisms due to pollutants are increasingly studied in ecotoxicology. In fact, behaviour links physiological function with ecological processes, and can be very sensitive to environmental stimuli and chemical exposure. This is the first study on behavioural alteration in a wild population of an Alpine species. In the present study, a video tracking system was standardized and subsequently used to identify contaminant-induced behavioural alterations in Diamesa zernyi larvae (Diptera, Chironomidae). Diamesa zernyi larvae, collected in an Italian Alpine stream (Rio Presena, Trentino Region), were acclimated for 24 h and successively exposed to several aquatic contaminants (pesticides: chlorpyrifos, metolachlor, boscalid, captan; pharmaceuticals: ibuprofen, furosemide, trimethoprim) at concentrations corresponding to their Lowest Observed Effect Concentration (LOEC). After 24, 48, 72, and 96 h of exposure, changes in the distance moved, the average speed, and the frequency of body bends were taken to reflect contaminant- and time-dependent effects on larval behaviour. In general, metolachlor, captan, and trimethoprim tended to reduce all the endpoints under consideration, whereas chlorpyrifos, boscalid, ibuprofen, and furosemide seemed to increase the distances moved by the larvae. This could be related to the different mechanisms of action of the investigated chemicals. Independently of the contaminant, after 72 h a general slowing down of all the behavioural activities occurred. Finally, we propose a behavioural stress indicator to compare the overall behavioural effects induced by the various contaminants.

Toxicity of individual pharmaceuticals and their mixtures to Aliivibrio fischeri: Evidence of toxicological interactions in binary combinations.

The combined toxicities of binary mixtures of veterinary pharmaceutical active compounds were examined using the bioluminescent bacterium Aliivibrio fischeri as a test organism (Microtox® test). Mixtures were prepared at an equitoxic ratio that corresponded to the inhibitory concentration, 10% (IC10) of individual pharmaceutical active compounds. In addition, the toxicity was determined of a multicomponent mixture that contained all of the investigated pharmaceutical active compounds mixed at a ratio corresponding to their individual predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) values. The experimental results were successively compared with those obtained by applying the 2 most widely used models for predicting mixture toxicity, the concentration addition (CA) and independent action (IA) models. Although the toxicity of the multicomponent mixture tested was well predicted by the CA and IA models, deviations from the model predictions were found for almost all of the binary mixtures. The deviations from the CA and IA models were greater at lower concentrations, particularly when diclofenac sodium and amoxicillin were present in the mixture. Based on these results, another hypothesis was tested, that of toxicological interactions occurring in binary mixtures (in the direction of synergistic or antagonistic effects), by applying the combination index method, which allowed for computerized quantification of synergism, the additive effect and antagonism. The application of this method confirmed, for at least half of the binary combinations, the clear presence of synergistic deviations at the lowest tested concentrations, with a tendency toward antagonism at the higher ones. In 1 case, a relevant antagonistic interaction was observed. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:815-822. © 2016 SETAC.

Toxicity of individual pharmaceuticals and their mixtures to Aliivibrio fischeri: Experimental results for single compounds and considerations of their mechanisms of action and potential acute effects on aquatic organisms.

In the first part of a broader study on the effects of individual and multicomponent mixtures of pharmaceutical active compounds, the authors used the Microtox® test system to analyze in detail the effects of 10 widely used human and veterinary pharmaceutical active compounds toward the bioluminescent bacterium Aliivibrio fischeri. The experimental results indicated moderate toxicity for the majority of the tested compounds. Comparison between experimental 50% inhibitory concentrations and those predicted from the quantitative structure-activity relationship models indicated that most of the tested pharmaceutical active compounds behave as polar narcotic compounds toward A. fischeri (only the antibiotic chlortetracycline seemed to have a specific mechanism of action). A comparison between the experimental results and a collection of acute toxicity data on other nontarget organisms indicated that in general A. fischeri has a comparable sensitivity to other aquatic species. However, according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, the majority of the investigated chemicals can be classified as harmful or nontoxic for aquatic ecosystems. Finally, based on comparisons among the 95th percentile of measured environmental concentrations found in European Union water bodies and acute toxicity data on various aquatic organisms, no risk to aquatic life exists when the tested pharmaceutical active compounds are assessed as individual chemicals. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:807-814. © 2016 SETAC.