ACCUMULATION AND TOXICOKINETICS OF FLUORANTHENE IN WATER-ONLY EXPOSURES WITH FRESHWATER AMPHIPODS

Abstract

Two 10-d water-only toxicity tests with radiolabeled fluoranthene were conducted with two species of freshwater amphipods, Hyalella azteca and Diporeia sp. For H. azteca, 10-d median lethal concentrations were 564 nmol/L and 481 nmol/L. Tentative median lethal doses, determined from the regressions of body burden of remaining live H. azteca versus survival, were 5.6 and 3.6 mmol fluoranthene/kg wet weight tissue. Diporeia appeared to be less sensitive, because survival in Diporeia was greater than 84% after 10-d exposures. Elimination rates determined for Diporeia, ranging from 0.0011 to 0.0042/h (half-lives of 7–26 d), were much slower than rates determined for H. azteca of 0.128 to 0.188/h (half-lives of 4–6 h). Faster elimination in H. azteca may be related to its greater ability to metabolize fluoranthene. For H. azteca, an average of 17% of its body burden was present as metabolites after 24 h of exposure to radiolabeled fluoranthene, as compared to 5% for Diporeia. For Diporeia, exposure to various water concentrations of fluoranthene for various lengths of time resulted in declines in the conditional uptake clearance rates (ml water cleared/g wet weight tissue/h). A similar, although less dramatic trend was observed for conditional uptake clearance rates in H. azteca.