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Quantitative modelling of Ostracod bioassay: assigning toxicity index to potentially chemical contaminated swimming pools

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Abstract

One of the primary objectives of any public health programme is to design a protocol that will curtail a population from being predisposed to toxic substances in the environment. Biomarkers help in actualising such an objective by their potential to detect the presence of toxic substances in environmental media such as soil, water and air. The Ostracod Heterocypris incongruens, an already established biomarker for quality evaluation of freshwater, does not quantify toxicity. This work was aimed at modelling Ostracod bioassay as a quantitative whole-water toxicity assay (QWTA) for the determination of potentially chemical contaminated swimming pools. In this modelling approach, a pool water sample was deliberately contaminated with a mixture of Fenton reagent (FR) and Bonny light (BL) crude oil. The mechanism of toxic injury of this mixture is via oxidative stress-mediated superoxide ion and other free radicals. The mortalities and growth factors of the exposed freshly hatched Ostracods to the serial dilutions of the contaminated swimming pool water sample for 6 days were mathematically modelled to toxicity indices (Ti), which were used to construct the toxicity reference curve (TRC). A graph of the “toxic concentrations” of the serially diluted contaminated pool water sample against Ostracod mortality was plotted. The TRC and the linear graph constitute the “Ostracod-linked mathematical model”. Against the reference mortality ≤ 20% of the Ostracods, the toxicity index based on the model prediction is ≤ 32.5, and this signifies “no observed toxic effect” for toxicity values below 32.5 units. Using this model, toxicity indices were calculated for 5 randomly selected swimming pools in the study area. The results showed that the outdoor pool SP 5 has a toxic index of 49.0, while outdoor pools SP 2 and SP 3 each has a toxic index of 42.5. The indoor swimming pool (SP 4) and Standard water (control) have zero toxicity, thus suggesting that that the outdoor pools SP 2, SP 3 and SP 5 were possibly contaminated by chemicals from extraneous sources while contamination of SP 1 was very much negligible, hence the “no observed toxic effect”.

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All the data related to this publication are contained in the manuscript submitted.

This work entails non-invasive/non-provocative tests and, thus, ethical consent was not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely acknowledge the MicroBiotests Company at Kleimoer 15 9030 Mariakerke (Gent), Belgium (www.microbiotests.be) for their kind gift of the Toxikits during the 7th World Congress/SETAC North America 37th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida (6–10 November 2016).

Funding

The work was funded by the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Environmental Management and Control (CEMAC), University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Enugu, Nigeria

    Arinze I. Onwurah

  2. Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, Alex-Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

    Obinna A. Oje

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, Nigeria

    Victor Okpashi

  4. Department of Biotechnology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria

    Angela C. Udebuani

  5. Department of Human Biochemistry, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Okofia-Nnewi, Nigeria

    Chidiebere E. Ugwu

  6. Pollution Control and Biotechnology Unit, Department of Biochemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Ikechukwu N. Onwurah

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  1. Arinze I. Onwurah
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Contributions

Arinze Onwurah: Literature survey, field work and laboratory experiments; Obinna A. Oje: Graphics and computation and making inputs in the discussion of the work; Victor Okpashi: Literature survey, manuscript editing and making some inputs during the discussion of the work; Angela C. Udebuani: Data analyses and discussion of the results; Chidiebere E. Ugwu: Analysis of the data and statistics; Ikechukwu N. Onwurah: Developed the idea for the work and modelling, supervision and final correction of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ikechukwu N. Onwurah.

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Onwurah, A.I., Oje, O.A., Okpashi, V. et al. Quantitative modelling of Ostracod bioassay: assigning toxicity index to potentially chemical contaminated swimming pools. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 31075–31084 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17913-5

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