钩吻毒素的研究进展

近些年来对钩吻毒素的研究愈加全面，主要表现在：中国钩吻已分离出17种单体，其中以钩吻素子含量最高，钩吻素已毒性最强．毒理作用主要抑制呼吸中枢，作用于迷走神经，还能直接作用于心肌和血管平滑肌，在临床上的应用也愈加广泛．主要用于抗肿瘤、镇痛以及促生长等方面．     

系统毒理学及其应用

系统毒理学是近5年来发展起来的一门新兴学科,代表着后基因组时代毒理学发展的新方向.所谓系统毒理学是指通过了解机体暴露后在不同剂量、不同时点的基因表达谱、蛋白质谱和代谢物谱的改变以及传统毒理学的研究参数,借助生物信息学和计算毒理学技术对其进行整合,从而系统地研究外源性化学物和环境应激等与机体相互作用的一门学科.系统毒理学有望在阐明毒物对机体损伤分子机制、分子生物标志物和危险度评价等方面取得突破.在总结国内外相关研究的基础上,综述了系统毒理学的诞生背景、研究策略、研究技术及其主要应用.尽管还有不足之处,但可以肯定系统毒理学的发展和应用将会对人类的环境与健康研究产生极大的推动作用.     

细胞培养技术在藻毒素毒理研究中的应用

随着水体富营养化的加剧,藻毒素对人类的危害愈加明显,对其机理的研究也愈发显得重要。在目前广泛采用的小鼠活体实验不能很好满足研究需要的时候,细胞培养技术将实验带入了微观细胞世界,并在越来越多的应用中体现出优越性,使对藻毒素毒理研究研究取得了巨大的进展。本文对藻毒素研究的现状以及细胞培养较之常规方法的优势和其应用进行综述,同时展望该技术的良好发展前景。     

硫丹的环境行为及水生态毒理效应研究进展

有机氯农药硫丹作为一种典型的持久性有机污染物(POPs)曾广泛应用于农业生产,我国曾大量使用。硫丹作为一种重要的污染物通过地表径流、淋、溶、干/湿沉降等方式进入水体,在直接影响大型水生植物和浮游藻类的同时,给鱼类等水生动物也带来了一定的毒性效应。由于其半衰期较长、迁移能力强、富集性高,在水体环境中已普遍检测出硫丹的存在,因此,对硫丹的水生生态安全性评价显得十分重要。硫丹对水生生物具有高毒性,它可影响生物正常受体配体作用、损伤生物膜、影响活性氧代谢并具有潜在的内分泌干扰作用。本文介绍了硫丹的环境行为效应,并综述了硫丹对水生生物的毒性及几种致毒机制,展望了该领域今后的研究重点和方向。     

气态氨对吊兰生长的毒理学影响

探讨气态氨染毒对吊兰生长的毒性作用,将生长状况相似的吊兰置于氨浓度为0.1mg/m^3、0.2mg/m^3、0.3mg/m^3、0.4mg/m^3的密闭容器中,以空气作为对照,测定叶片的叶绿素含量变化、叶绿素a/b比值变化、丙二醛含量变化、可溶性糖含量变化、脯氨酸含量变化以及叶片对有毒气体的形态学反应。结果表明,经处理的吊兰叶片外观损伤明显,叶绿素含量随气体浓度的增加而减小,叶绿素a/b比值减小,丙二醛和可溶性糖含量随气体浓度的升高而升高,脯氨酸含量随着气体浓度的增加而积累,气态氨对吊兰的毒理学影响明显。     

The utility of behavioral studies for aquatic toxicology testing: A meta-analysis

Behavioral responses have been applied for decades as tools for aquatic toxicity testing, but have received far less attention than studies assessing lethality, development or reproduction. With improved visual and non-visual assessment tools and increased knowledge of the importance of behavior for organism health and fitness, interest in behavioral analysis has increased in recent years. However, to our knowledge there has never been a quantitative assessment of the available techniques for organismal toxicity testing, so it is not clear whether behavioral studies represent valuable additions to environmental monitoring. We performed a meta-analysis comparing the relative sensitivities and average durations of behavioral studies to those assessing acute lethality, development and reproduction. Results demonstrate that the average duration of behavioral studies is consistently less than developmental or reproductive studies, and that behavioral endpoints are generally more sensitive than those assessing development or reproduction. We found effect sizes to be lower but power to be higher in behavioral and reproductive studies compared to studies assessing development, which likely relates to low sample sizes commonly used in developmental studies. Overall, we conclude that behavioral studies are comparatively fast and sensitive, and therefore warrant further attention as tools for assessing the toxicological effects of environmental contaminants. We suggest that research aimed at developing and optimizing techniques for behavioral analysis could prove extremely useful to the field of toxicology, but that future work must be directed at determining what specific behaviors are most sensitive to various classes of contaminants, and at understanding the relevance of changes to discrete behaviors for influencing organismal and population-level health and fitness.     

Comparison of Three Algaecides for Controlling the Density of Prymnesium parvum1

Rodgers, John H., Jr., Brenda M. Johnson, and West M. Bishop, 2010. Comparison of Three Algaecides for Controlling the Density of Prymnesium parvum. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(1):153-160. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00399.x Abstract: Prymnesium parvum has become more prevalent in water resources of the southern United States. As the potential impacts of P. parvum are relatively well known, especially its capability to severely affect fish, managers have sought efficacious, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable strategies for mitigating this noxious species. Laboratory testing was used to identify an effective algaecide for control of P. parvum from Texas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Cutrine^®-Plus at 0.2 mg Cu/l significantly decreased the density of P. parvum in samples from all of these locations. Both copper sulfate and Phycomycin^® were less effective for controlling the population growth of P. parvum. The predicted response from the laboratory study was confirmed in the field at the Arizona site. Strategic use of Cutrine^®-Plus in larger water resources could provide toxin-free refugia to allow some fish to survive and repopulate the water resource when the golden alga infestation abates.     

Sediment Contaminant Chemistry and Toxicity of Freshwater Urban Wetlands in Southern California1

Brown, Jeffrey S., Martha Sutula, Chris Stransky, John Rudolph, and Earl Byron, 2010. Sediment Contaminant Chemistry and Toxicity of Freshwater Urban Wetlands in Southern California. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):367-384. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00407.x Abstract: Wetlands provide many critical functions in urban ecosystems, including habitat for wetland-dependent fauna and enhancement of water quality. Interest in restoring or creating wetlands to enhance these functions is increasing due to the scale and extent of wetland loss and water quality problems associated with urbanization. One of the most pressing questions associated with urban wetland restoration is the extent to which urban wetlands tend to concentrate contaminants, and if so, whether an associated risk to wildlife exists. The goal of this study was to better understand these potential risks, and the associated tradeoffs with using wetlands to treat urban runoff. Sediment toxicity, contaminant chemistry, and macroinvertebrate (MI) community metrics were measured in 21 southern California wetlands that receive urban runoff as their primary water source. MI organisms in 18 of the 21 urban wetlands examined were considered to be at risk due to sediment contaminant concentrations and toxicity. Most of the sites were either toxic to the amphipod Hyalella azteca, exceeded a sediment quality guideline, or both. Sediment chemistry and toxicity identification evaluation studies suggest that pyrethroid pesticides may have been responsible for much of the toxicity documented in this study. The mean Probable Effects Concentration quotient (an index of degree of sediment contamination) was found to negatively correlate with MI diversity in these wetlands suggesting that toxicity was affecting organisms at the base of the food chain in these wetlands.     

Comparative Toxicity of Prymnesium parvum in Inland Waters1

Brooks, Bryan W., Susan V. James, Theodore W. Valenti, Jr., Fabiola Urena-Boeck, Carlos Serrano, Jason P. Berninger, Leslie Schwierzke, Laura D. Mydlarz, James P. Grover, and Daniel L. Roelke, 2010. Comparative Toxicity of Prymnesium parvum in Inland Waters. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(1):45-62. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00390.x Abstract: Numerous studies have examined the impacts of Prymnesium parvum to aquatic life, but the majority of information available is from experiments or field studies performed at salinities of marine and coastal ecosystems. Ambient toxicity of P. parvum has been characterized with in vitro and in vivo models because reliable quantitation of P. parvum toxins in environmental matrices is often precluded by a lack of available analytical standards. Hemolytic activity and fish mortality assays have been used most frequently to characterize toxic conditions; however, relatively few in vivo studies employed standardized methods. Because the relative sensitivities of different taxa to P. parvum toxins in inland waters were undefined, we assessed the comparative toxicity of P. parvum filtrate from a laboratory study (20°C, 12:12 light:dark cycle, f/8 media, 2.4 psu) to several common standardized in vitro and in vivo models. After exposure to cell-free filtrate hemolytic activity (1 h EC₅₀ = 13,712 cells/ml) and juvenile fish (Pimephales promelas) survival (48 h LC₅₀ = 21,754 cells/ml) were the most sensitive assay responses examined, followed by rotifer (Brachionus calyciflorus) population growth rate [48 h no observable adverse effect levels (NOAEL) = 19,072 cells/ml] and cladoceran (Daphnia magna) reproduction (10-day NOAEL = 47,680 cells/ml). Green algae (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata) growth (96 h) was not adversely affected but was instead significantly stimulated by P. parvum toxins. We further propose an initial species sensitivity distribution approach for P. parvum, which may be used to support future environmental management decisions. Our findings from these laboratory studies indicate that although fish kills are increasingly associated with P. parvum blooms occurring in inland waters, further study is required to define the influences of toxin sensitivities of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish communities on P. parvum bloom initiation and termination.     

Prymnesium parvum Population Dynamics During Bloom Development: A Role Assessment of Grazers and Virus1

Schwierzke, Leslie, Daniel L. Roelke, Bryan W. Brooks, James P. Grover, Theodore W. Valenti, Jr., Mieke Lahousse, Carrie J. Miller, and James L. Pinckney, 2010. Prymnesium parvum Population Dynamics During Bloom Development: A Role Assessment of Grazers and Virus. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(1):63-75. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00391.x Abstract: The toxic haptophyte Prymnesium parvum is a harmful alga known to cause fish-killing blooms that occur worldwide. In Texas (United States), P. parvum blooms occur in inland brackish water bodies and have increased in frequency and magnitude in recent years. In this study we conducted three consecutive field experiments (Lake Whitney) to investigate the influence of zooplankton and viruses on P. parvum bloom dynamics during the time of year when blooms are still typically active in Texas (early spring). A localized P. parvum bloom developed during our study that involved increasing levels of toxicity (based on Pimephales promelas and Daphnia magna bioassays). Only in our last experiment, during later stages of bloom development and under highly toxic conditions, did the presence of grazers show a statistically significant, negative effect on P. parvum population dynamics. During this experiment, a rotifer-dominated zooplankton community emerged, composed mostly of Notholca laurentiae, suggesting that this species was less sensitive than other grazers to toxins produced by P. parvum. Microzooplankton may have also been important at this time. Similarly, only our final experiment demonstrated a statistically significant, negative effect of viruses on P. parvum. This exploratory study, resulting in observed impacts on P. parvum populations by both grazers and virus, enhances our understanding of P. parvum ecology and highlights direction for future studies on resistance of zooplankton to prymnesin toxins and algal-virus interactions.