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Acute toxicity and bioaccumulation of arsenic in freshwater clam Corbicula fluminea
Author(s) -
Liao ChungMin,
Jau ShengFeng,
Chen WeiYu,
Lin ChiehMing,
Jou LiJohn,
Liu ChenWuing,
Liao Vivian HsiuChuan,
Chang FiJohn
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
environmental toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1522-7278
pISSN - 1520-4081
DOI - 10.1002/tox.20376
Subject(s) - corbicula fluminea , bioaccumulation , arsenic , environmental chemistry , acute toxicity , biomonitoring , toxicity , toxicology , chronic toxicity , toxicokinetics , bioconcentration , biology , chemistry , organic chemistry
Abstract Arsenic is a potent human carcinogen of skin, lung, and urinary bladder. Freshwater clam Corbicula fluminea is a commercially important native species in Taiwan. C. fluminea is also a suitable biomonitoring test organism. Little is known, however, about the actual effects of arsenic on C. fluminea . The objectives of this study were to provide information on the acute toxicity and bioaccumulation kinetics of arsenic in C. fluminea . We carried out a 14‐day exposure experiment to obtain bioaccumulation parameters. Uptake was very rapid when C. fluminea was first exposed and then slightly decayed during the uptake phase of the experiment and an uptake rate constant of 1.718 ± 6.70 (mean ± SE) mL g −1 d −1 was estimated. The elimination of arsenic from C. fluminea obeyed first‐order depuration kinetics ( r 2 = 0.85, p < 0.05) with a calculated half‐life of 6.80 days. The derived bioaccumulation factor of 16.84 suggests that arsenic has a high potential for bioaccumulation in C. fluminea . This had important implications for dietary exposure of arsenic to humans who eat contaminated clams, because the soft tissue usually constitutes the majority of tissue consumed. The 96‐h LC50 value was estimated to be 20.74 (95% CI: 11.74–30.79) mg L −1 obtained from a 7‐day acute toxicity bioassay. We also kinetically linked an acute toxicity model and a Hill sigmoid model to reconstruct an internal effect concentration based dose‐response profile to assess the effect of soft tissue arsenic burden on the C. fluminea mortality. This result could be used to support the establishment of an ecological risk assessment to prevent possible ecosystem and human health consequences. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2008.