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Joint toxicity of sediment-associated DDT and copper to a polychaete, Nereis succinea

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Abstract

As major components in antifouling paints, both dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and copper are ubiquitous in estuarine sediment and have been detected at high concentrations in the harbors in South China. In the present study joint toxicity between DDT and copper to an estuarine polychaete, Nereis succinea, was examined using bioaccumulation potential, growth impairment and change in lipid peroxidation contents as sub-lethal endpoints. In general, the toxicity of DDXs (DDT and its metabolites) and copper acted independently and copper was more toxic to the lugworms at environmentally relevant concentrations. Nevertheless, co-exposure to copper led to a significant reduction in the bioaccumulation of DDXs when the concentrations of DDXs in sediment were high. The inhibition of DDX bioaccumulation by copper may be partially explained by the decrease in the bioavailability of sediment-associated DDXs which were estimated by biomimetic gut fluid extraction. The saturation of the solubilization agents or the inhibition of protease activity in gut fluid of N. succinea by copper limited the DDX bioavailability and the subsequent bioaccumulation.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. Financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41222024, 41473106 and 41273120) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (GIGCAS-135-project Y234081001) is thankfully acknowledged. This is contribution No. IS-1984 from GIGCAS.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Fei Wang, Hong-Xue Qi & Jing You

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Hong-Xue Qi

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  1. Fei Wang
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  2. Hong-Xue Qi
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Correspondence to Jing You.

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Wang, F., Qi, HX. & You, J. Joint toxicity of sediment-associated DDT and copper to a polychaete, Nereis succinea . Ecotoxicology 24, 424–432 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1391-7

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