Determining the Relative Importance of Dietborne and Waterborne Toxicity of 4-tert-Butylphenol and 4-tert-Octylphenol to the Benthic Crustacean, Heterocypris incongruens.

Organic pollutants with high solid-water equilibrium partition coefficients are adsorbed into solid particles and are easily ingested by benthic organisms, potentially causing dietborne toxicity. Whether dietborne toxicity is more important than waterborne toxicity for such chemicals remains to be determined. In this study, we identify the most relevant uptake route for the toxicity of two alkylphenols, 4-tert-butylphenol (4tBP), and 4-tert-octylphenol (4tOP). To achieve this, 6-day toxicity tests under two exposure conditions, namely dietary exposure (clean water + contaminated food) and combined exposure (contaminated water + contaminated food) were conducted on a benthic ostracod, Heterocypris incongruens. The toxicologically important exposure routes were confirmed by the consistency of dietary and aqueous dose-response relationships under different exposure conditions. During the test, frequent renewal of water and food was performed to reduce variability in the exposure conditions. The results showed that, under the equilibrium condition, the dietary exposure route was toxicologically more important than the aqueous route for 4tBP, whereas the waterborne exposure route was more important than the dietary exposure route for 4tOP. This study provides a novel approach to identify the most relevant uptake pathways for chemical toxicity, which better explains the importance of exposure routes in toxicity effects.