The use of alternative systems for the ecotoxicological screening of complex mixtures on fish populations

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the use of alternative systems in a screening study of four complex mixtures. The following tests were performed in vitro induction of micronuclei in a rainbow trout-derived cell line by flow cytometry, and hatching percentage, time of hatching and teratogenic alterations on the embryolarval development on medaka fish eggs. The results obtained with the proposed tests in this study allows an increase in the information level in a short period of time (2 weeks), using very low sample volumes (<100 ml). Inclusion of chronic and specific effects (genotoxicity and teratogenicity) allows the selection of the most sensitive endpoint to increase security factors in the ecotoxicological assessment of complex mixtures, so that detailed studies can be focused only on those samples which require further research. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.