title: Investigating arsenic bioavailability and bioaccumulation by the freshwater oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus.
abstract: The complex and variable composition of natural sediments makes it difficult to predict the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of sediment-bound contaminants. Several approaches, including an experimental model using artificial particles as analogues for natural sediments, have been proposed to overcome this problem. For this work, we applied this experimental device to investigate the uptake and bioaccumulation of As(III) by the freshwater oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus. Five different particle systems were selected, and particle-water partition coefficients for As(III) were calculated. The influence of different concentrations of commercial humic acids was also investigated, but this material had no effect on bioaccumulation. In the presence of particulate matter, the bioaccumulation of As(III) by the oligochaetes did not depend solely on the levels of chemical dissolved but also on the amount sorbed onto the particles and the strength of that binding. This study confirms that the use of artificial particles may be a suitable experimental model for understanding the possible interactions that may occur between contaminants and particulate matter. In addition, it was found that the most hydrophobic resin induced an increase in arsenic bioavailability, leading to the highest bioaccumulation to L. variegatus compared with animals that were exposed to water only.
authors.affiliation: Toxicología y Química Legal, Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nasi
authors.forename: María N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Piol
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Risio
authors.forename: Noemí R Verrengia
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Guerrero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001151:Arsenic / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D001682:Biological Availability; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D006812:Humic Substances / Q000032:analysis; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D010316:Particle Size; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
chemical_list: D006812:Humic Substances; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D001151:Arsenic