Bioassay sediment

Phase 2. In the seeond phase of the study, the partieipants were asked to analyze three extraeted and cleaned sediment samples using the DR CALUX bioassay. Sediments used for extraetion and cleanup were freshwater sediments from the Western Seheldt, The Netherlands. The sediment extracts were prepared by the Royal Institute for Fishery Research (RIVODLO), IJmuiden, The Netherlands, aeeording to the protoeol given here. Dilutions of the supplied sediment extracts were prepared by the partieipants in DMSO and tested for dioxin and/or dioxinlike content. On each 96-well mierotiter plate, a 2,3,7,8-TCDD standard ealibration curve was analyzed. Raw data as well as eonverted data were used for statistieal evaluation. 

Hill, I.R., Matthiessen, R, and Heimbach, F. (Eds.) (1993). Guidance Document on Sediment Toxicity Tests and Bioassays for Ereshwater and Marine Environments. SETAC Europe Workshop on Sediment Toxicity Assessment. Renesse, the Netherlands, November 8-10, 1993. 

Fernandez P, M Grifoll, AM Solanas, JM Bayiona, J Albalges (1992) Bioassay-directed chemical analysis of genotoxic compounds in coastal sediments. Environ Sci Technol 26 817-829. 

Army. 1994. Development of a chronic sublethal bioassay for evaluating contaminated sediment with the marine polychaete worm Nereis (Neanthes) arenaceodentata. Vicksburg, MS U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station Environmental Laboratory. Miscellaneous Paper D-94-5. 

Chen L, Yu C, Shen C, Zhang C, Liu L, Shen K, Tang X, Chen Y (2010) Study on adverse impact of e-waste disassembly on surface sediment in East China by chemical analysis and bioassays. J Soils Sediments 10(3) 359-367. doi 10.1007/sll368-009-0176-8... 

Hansen PD, Blasco J, de Vails A et al (2007) Biological analysis (bioassays, biomarkers, biosensors). In Barcelo D, Petrovic M (eds) Sustainable management of sediment resources. Sediment quality and impact assessment of pollutants. Elsevier Publishers, Amsterdam... 

Barber, T.R., D.J. Chappie, D.J. Duda, P.C. Fuchsman, and B.L. Finley. 1998. Using a spiked sediment bioassay to establish a no-effect concentration for dioxin exposure to the amphipod Ampelisca abdita. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 17 420-424. 

Since persistence in sediments is longer than that in the water column, the relevant toxicity studies are those that consider longer term, chronic exposures. A number of standard tests have been developed for assessing sediment toxicity and the bioassay of field collected sediments (e.g., [16-24]). The most commonly tested freshwater species are arthropods, including the amphipod shrimp // azteca and chironomid midge larvae, both Chironomus dilutus (formerly C. tentans) and C. riparius. Water-only studies have demonstrated that II. azteca are particularly sensitive to SPs (see Sect. 3) and in the published literature, this is the most commonly tested species for assessing the sediment toxicity of SPs. 

The prediction of sediment toxicity based on chemical data alone was questioned in a discussion paper by O Connor and Paul [25], But even with the inclusion of a bioassay there are problems. It was considered that a sediment should be classified as toxic if there was less than an 80% survival of exposed... 

Fig. 16.33 Simultaneous (a) toluene conversion and (b) AQDS reduction by Amsterdam petroleum harbor sediment in anaerobic culture bottles containing bicarbonate-buffered basal medium, supplemented with 25 mM AQDS. The unsupplemented control was prepared in the same manner but without AQDS. The endogenous control (without toluene addition) contained the same amount of hexadecane (0.2% [vol/vol]) as that used for toluene addition. AQDS reduction was quantified spec-trophotometiicaUy as the increase in absorbance at 450 nm. Data are means and standard deviations for tiiphcate incubations in each treatment. Arrows indicate the addition of fresh medium containing AQDS and toluene in depleted bioassay mixtures. (Cervantes et al. 2001) Reprinted with permission. Copyright American Society for Microbiology...

Brouwer, H. Murphy, T. McArdle, L. A sediment-contact bioassay with Photobacterium phosphoreum. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 1990, 9, 1353-1358. 

Kwan, K.K. Dutka, B.J. A novel bioassay approach direct application of Toxi-Chromotest and SOS Chromotest to sediments. Environ. Toxic. Water Quality 1992, 7, 49-60. 

Possible applications and types of bioassays needed to determine toxicological impact from dredged sediment... 

Given the eomplexity of eontaminated sediments, rationally ehosen and applied bioassays and bioindieators for hazard, risk and impaet assessment are needed that ean prediet and deteet the biologieal effeets of eontaminants in eombination with ehemieal analyses (Chapman and Mann, 1999). This thesis foeuses on the applieability of in vitro and and in vivo bioassays and bioindieators as tools for evaluating the effeets of eomplex ehemieal mixtures in the proeess of deeiding whether dredged harbour sediments ean be safely disposed of at sea. To this end three objeetives have been defined ... 

Analyze the main faetors determining sueeess and failure when applying bioassays for hazard, risk and impaet assessments of dredged sediments. 

Establish a eomprehensive set of bioassays and biomarkers that will provide added value to the risk management proeess when eonsidering the disposal of dredged sediments. 

Combining the information obtained in these newly defined bioassays with existing ehemieal analyses may faeilitate definition of not only the hazard but also the risk posed by the dredged sediment. 

This thesis focuses on the applicability of in vitro, in vivo bioassays and bioindicators as tools for evaluating the effects of complex chemical mixtures in the process of deciding whether dredged harbour sediments can be disposed of at sea without serious adverse effects on marine ecosystem and human health. It considers the North Sea delta area in order to determine a comprehensive approach for the application of both in vitro and in vivo bioassays for hazard assessment, advanced risk assessment, and location-specific ecological impact assessment for dredged harbour sediments. To aid in the selection of appropriate, robust and reliable in vitro and in vivo bioassay and bioindication methods for these specific purposes, the uneertainty, predictability and specificity of the bioassays have been explored and the applieability in eombination with other analyses is discussed. The focus of the chosen examples is on bioassays and bioindicators for the relatively well studied dioxin-like contaminants and TBT. 

A retrospective analysis to explore the applicability of fish biomarkers and sediment bioassays along contaminated salinity transects... 

The sediment from Amerikahaven (site 10) was found to contain unexpectedly low contaminant levels during sampling in 1996 (see also De Boer et al., 2001). This was attributed to repeated dredging activity. The sediment was therefore sampled a second time in September 1997 at a non-dredged site. Analysis of this sediment showed considerably higher contaminant levels. These results are considered more representative of this location and were therefore used instead of the 1996 data in the multivariate statistical analysis of biomarker data. Sediment bioassays were however conducted with the material collected in 1996 and these data for location no. 10 were used for multivariate analysis when sediment chemistry was included. 

As part of this field study, relevant quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) criteria and guidelines (SETAC, 1993 JAMP, 1998a,b) have to be set to insure the quality of data generated during the assessments. The development of QA/QC criteria for this study involved conducting a series of replicate bioassays with each of the methods. Samples tested included a control sediment, contaminated sediments and reference toxicants. Based on the results of the bioassay replicates, the variability associated with the tests was quantified and we were able to determine what we considered acceptable QA/QC criteria for these methods. 

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