title: Passive sampler for combined chemical and toxicological long-term monitoring of groundwater: the ceramic toximeter.
abstract: We present the development of a passive sampling device that combines chemical with biological assessment of water following time-integrating, long-term sampling. The new device, which was designated the Ceramic Toximeter, brings together the simplicity of the Ceramic Dosimeter as a ceramic membrane-based, solid-sorbent sampler and the uniqueness of a recently developed solid-phase, solvent-free bioassay. In this bioassay, Biosilon, i.e., polystyrene polymer beads, is used to present sorbed contaminants to vertebrate cells that adhere to the contaminant-loaded Biosilon and respond. Focusing on Biosilon as sorbent, its ability to accumulate 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was explored. When tested up to 42 days in the laboratory or 1 year in groundwater at a contaminated gasworks site, Biosilon-filled Ceramic Toximeters yielded back-calculated time-weighted average aqueous PAH concentrations that agreed well with concentrations obtained by frequent snapshot sampling. The chosen bioassay response, the induction of 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase, was as predicted in the laboratory setting but could only partly be explained by the analyzed PAHs in the field. Based on this first assessment, the Ceramic Toximeter emerges as a resource efficient water monitoring device with a variety of potential future applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Toxicology, UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephanie K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Bopp
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: McLachlan
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schirmer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002516:Ceramics; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 / Q000378:metabolism; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017686:Oncorhynchus mykiss; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D011137:Polystyrenes; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D011137:Polystyrenes; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1