title: Using a biology-based model (DEBtox) to analyze bioassays in ecotoxicology: opportunities and recommendations.
abstract: The conventional analysis of bioassays does not account for biological significance. However, mathematical models do exist that are realistic from a biological point of view and describe toxicokinetics and effects on test organisms of chemical compounds. Here we studied a biology-based model (DEBtox) that provides an estimate of a no-effect concentration, and we demonstrated the ability of such a model to adapt to different situations. We showed that the basic model can be extended to deal with problems usually faced during bioassays like time-varying concentrations or unsuitable choices of initial concentrations. To reach this goal, we report experimental data from Daphnia magna exposed to zinc. These data also showed the potential benefit of the model in understanding the influence of food on toxicity. We finally make some recommendations about the choice of initial concentrations, and we propose a test with a depuration period to check the relevance and the predictive capacity of the DEBtox model. In our experiments, the model performed well and proved its usefulness as a tool in risk assessment.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'écotoxicologie, Cemagref, Lyon, France. alexandra.pery@cemagref.fr
authors.forename: Alexandre R R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Péry
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Flammarion
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vollat
authors.forename: Jacques J M
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bedaux
authors.forename: Sebastiaan A L M
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kooijman
authors.forename: Jeanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garric
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods; D003621:Daphnia; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D007700:Kinetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D019055:No-Observed-Adverse-Effect Level; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014116:Toxicology; D015032:Zinc / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D015032:Zinc