21世纪可替代脊椎动物进行生态毒性测试的方法：过去二十年的发展和现状综述

替代脊椎动物进行化学物质和污染物危害评估的方法已成为越来越重要的需求。现在首先要考虑的是当启动一个脊椎动物生态毒性测试,必须确保不必要的脊椎动物生物的使用尽可能最小化。对于一些监管目的,脊椎动物的使用对环境风险评估(ERA)已经被禁止,而在其他情况下生物测试的数量已经大大减少了,或者测试程序严格精简了。然而,想要获得能够完全替代脊椎动物提供环境危害数据的方法仍有很长的路要走。动物替代品的发展不仅仅是基于道德的考虑,也可以降低执行脊椎动物生态毒性测试的成本以及在某些情况下能够提供更好的信息旨在改进环境风险评估。本文集中综述了在过去的几十年里生态毒性评估替代方法所发生的重大的进展。
精选自Adam Lillicrap, Scott Belanger, Natalie Burden, David Du Pasquier, Michelle R. Embry, Marlies Halder, Mark A. Lampi, Lucy Lee, Teresa Norberg-King, Barnett A. Rattner, Kristin Schirmer, Paul Thomas. Alternative approaches to vertebrate ecotoxicity tests in the 21st century: a review of developments over the last two decades and current status. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: Volume 35, Issue 11, pages 2637–2646, November 2016. DOI: 10.1002/etc.3603
详情请见http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.3603/full
     

Study of sorptive properties of trap systems for selective enrichment of volatile organic compounds from tobacco smoke samples

There is a dearth of data on the consumer product concentrations of iron, lead, and nickel for accurate comparison to be made. The levels of these elements were determined in 85 samples of six different classes of personal care products commonly used in Nigeria using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results of the analysis showed that the range of the mean concentrations of Fe was 0.485–1.108 ppm, Pb ND–0.163 ppm, and Ni ND-0.160 ppm. The analytical data have demonstrated that the selected consumer products are possible sources of iron, lead, and nickel exposure. Users can be exposed to these metals directly through dermal contact or inhalation. The regulations relating to cosmetic products give no limit values for heavy metals in cosmetic products, hence, it was difficult to establish if the values obtained in this study are safe or not. Prolonged use of soaps, creams, and detergent containing these elements may pose threat to human health and the environment. This could be responsible for various skin diseases such as allergic skin, follicular and pigmentary disorders, which are common among the users (exposed groups) of these products in Nigeria. A body of evidence has presented a rare example of systemic allergic dermatitis caused by topical application of a mercury-containing cosmetic to the upper lip of a 32-year-old Turkish patient.     

Variable within-brood maternal provisioning in newly extruded embryos of Homarus gammarus

Offspring quality of decapod crustaceans has been widely studied, with special emphasis on the sources of variability determining embryonic and larval quality. Nevertheless, maternal provisioning has commonly been overlooked as a potential source of offspring within-brood variability. In the present study, the existence of variable maternal provisioning was assessed through the analysis of the fatty acid (FA) profile of newly extruded embryos from different regions of the brooding chamber of Homarus gammarus. Significant differences in the FA profile of embryos sampled from different pleopods and sides of the brooding chamber were recorded. Significant deviations of the overall mean of each surveyed female were also observed for essential FA, particularly 20:4n-6, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3. Lipid energy available to fuel embryogenesis also varied among embryos sampled from different regions of the brooding chamber. Results suggest variable female investment at oocyte production, which may be amplified during the incubation period of developing embryos by differential lipid catabolism. For the first time, maternal provisioning is evidenced as an additional source for within-brood variability in the FA profile of embryos.     

Accommodation space limits plant invasion: Ammophila arenaria survival on New Zealand beaches

Purpose

Ammophila arenaria (marram grass) may invade remote beach-dune systems by the marine dispersal of rhizomes. In New Zealand, and elsewhere, the conservation of the remaining dune systems of high conservation value would be advanced by predicting where this species might successfully establish and undertaking appropriate surveillance. This paper examines the ability of A. arenaria to sustain growth in the stressful back-beach environment.

Methods

Shoots developed from rhizomes were subjected to burial, depth, salt spray and desiccation treatments in the glasshouse. Plants were also subjected to salt water inundation. Two field populations of A. arenaria were surveyed for a period of almost 3 years, following rhizome stranding in July 2007.

Results

Shoots were able to emerge from depths of up to 40 cm. Rhizomes failed to produce shoots when the moisture content of rhizomes was less than 18.25 %, which occurred after 3 days of drought. The survival of buried plants was significantly reduced compared to non-buried plants when burial exceeded 80 % of the plant height. No plants survived when burial exceeded 100 % of the plant height. No tillers survived without water for more than 3 weeks. Exposure to salt spray had no effect on shoot survival. Immersion in seawater significantly reduced survival—exposure to seawater, equivalent to only one high tide immersion event, was sufficient to reduce plant survival in the glasshouse.

Conclusions

Burial, desiccation and salt-spray may, on occasion, be responsible for either preventing the regeneration of A. arenaria rhizomes or limiting the survival of the resultant plants, but exposure to wave activity determines the viability of a population.     

DNA damage in oral epithelial cells of individuals chronically exposed to indoor radon (<Superscript>222</Superscript>Rn) in a hydrothermal area

Hydrothermal areas are potentially hazardous to humans as volcanic gases such as radon (²²²Rn) are continuously released from soil diffuse degassing. Exposure to radon is estimated to be the second leading cause of lung cancer, but little is known about radon health-associated risks in hydrothermal regions. This cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the DNA damage in the buccal epithelial cells of individuals chronically exposed to indoor radon in a volcanic area (Furnas volcano, Azores, Portugal) with a hydrothermal system. Buccal epithelial cells were collected from 33 individuals inhabiting the hydrothermal area (Ribeira Quente village) and from 49 individuals inhabiting a non-hydrothermal area (Ponta Delgada city). Indoor radon was measured with Ramon 2.2 detectors. Chromosome damage was measured by micronucleus cytome assay, and RAPD-PCR was used as a complementary tool to evaluate DNA damage, using three 10-mer primers (D11, F1 and F12). Indoor radon concentration correlated positively with the frequency of micronucleated cells (r _s = 0.325, p = 0.003). Exposure to radon is a risk factor for the occurrence micronucleated cells in the inhabitants of the hydrothermal area (RR = 1.71; 95% CI, 1.2–2.4; p = 0.003). One RAPD-PCR primer (F12) produced differences in the banding pattern, a fact that can indicate its potential for detecting radon-induced specific genomic alterations. The observed association between chronic exposure to indoor radon and the occurrence of chromosome damage in human oral epithelial cells evidences the usefulness of biological surveillance to assess mutations involved in pre-carcinogenesis in hydrothermal areas, reinforcing the need for further studies with human populations living in these areas.     

Optical fiber based methodology for assessment of thiocyanate in seawater

A new methodology for the assessment of thiocyanate (SCN(-)) is proposed based on optical fiber (OF) detection coupled to a liquid chromatography system (LC). The developed methodology showed an adequate performance for the analysis of SCN(-) comparable to a high performance liquid chromatography with UV detector (HPLC-UV) methodology: a detection limit of 3 μg L(-1), a linear range from 4 to 400 μg L(-1), and an analytical time of less than 6 min. The OF based methodology was of compact design and easy operation. This simple system has the potential to be used as a sensing approach for SCN(-) in seawater.     

Distribution and availability of trace elements in municipal solid waste composts

Trace element contamination is one of the main problems linked to the quality of compost, especially when it is produced from urban wastes, which can lead to high levels of some potentially toxic elements such as Cu, Pb or Zn. In this work, the distribution and bioavailability of five elements (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr and Ni) were studied in five Spanish composts obtained from different feedstocks (municipal solid waste, garden trimmings, sewage sludge and mixed manure). The five composts showed high total concentrations of these elements, which in some cases limited their commercialization due to legal imperatives. First, a physical fractionation of the composts was performed, and the five elements were determined in each size fraction. Their availability was assessed by several methods of extraction (water, CaCl(2)-DTPA, the PBET extract, the TCLP extract, and sodium pyrophosphate), and their chemical distribution was assessed using the BCR sequential extraction procedure. The results showed that the finer fractions were enriched with the elements studied, and that Cu, Pb and Zn were the most potentially problematic ones, due to both their high total concentrations and availability. The partition into the BCR fractions was different for each element, but the differences between composts were scarce. Pb was evenly distributed among the four fractions defined in the BCR (soluble, oxidizable, reducible and residual); Cu was mainly found in the oxidizable fraction, linked to organic matter, and Zn was mainly associated to the reducible fraction (iron oxides), while Ni and Cr were mainly present almost exclusively in the residual fraction. It was not possible to establish a univocal relation between trace elements availability and their BCR fractionation. Given the differences existing for the availability and distribution of these elements, which not always were related to their total concentrations, we think that legal limits should consider availability, in order to achieve a more realistic assessment of the risks linked to compost use.     

Modelling the temperature and the phytoplankton distributions at the Aveiro near coastal zone,Portugal

The main objective of this paper is to implement a coupled three-dimensional physical and ecological model for the Aveiro coast, and to apply it to study the temperature and the phytoplankton biomass spatial distributions along the coastal ecosystem. The Aveiro coast is located at Portugal within the upwelling system of the Atlantic Iberian coast, characterized by nutrients availability and phytoplankton biomass accumulation, from April to October. In order to implement the ecological model, its validation was assessed by comparing simulations to data relative to the horizontal and vertical distributions of the temperature, nutrients and phytoplankton biomass, obtained during the CICLOS I survey off the Portuguese coast [Moita, M.T., 2001. Estrutura, Variabilidade e Dinâmica do Fitoplâncton na Costa de Portugal Continental. PhD Thesis. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, 272 pp.]. A sensitivity analysis of the model has been performed in order to assess the influence of the main ecological model variables. The simulation results show that the model is capable of predicting realistic the temperature, the nutrients and the chlorophyll-a distributions for the study area. The scenarios evidence the setup of a thermal stratification pattern resulting from the upwelling of deep and rich in nutrients water to the surface layer and a chlorophyll-a maxima extending offshore, along the picnocline and the nutricline. The results confirm the crucial role played by the physical processes in the phytoplankton bloom along the Aveiro coast. They also evidence the close link between the surface phytoplankton distribution and the surface temperature distribution.     

The effect of EDTA and citric acid on phytoremediation of Cd, Cr, and Ni from soil using Helianthus annuus

The possibility to clean heavy metal contaminated soils with hyperaccumulator plants has shown great potential. One of the most recently studied species used in phytoremediation applications are sunflowers. In this study, two cultivars of Helianthus annuus were used in conjunction with ethylene diamine tetracetic acid (EDTA) and citric acid (CA) as chelators. Two different concentrations of the chelators were studied for enhancing the uptake and translocation of Cd, Cr, and Ni from a silty-clay loam soil. When 1.0 g/kg CA was used, the highest total metal uptake was only 0.65 mg. Increasing the CA concentration posed a severe phytotoxicity to both cultivars as evidenced by stunted growth and diminished uptake rates. Decreasing the CA concentration to 0.1 and 0.3 g/kg yielded results that were not statistically different from the control. EDTA at a concentration of 0.1 g/kg yielded the best results for both cultivars achieving a total metal uptake of approximately 0.73 mg compared to approximately 0.40 mg when EDTA was present at 0.3 g/kg.