title: Ecotoxicity evaluation of a liquid detergent using the automatic biotest ECOTOX.
abstract: Synthetic detergents are common pollutants reaching aquatic environments in different ways after usage at homes, institutions and industries. In this study a liquid detergent, used for dish washing, was evaluated for its toxicity during long- and short-term tests using the automatic biotest ECOTOX. Different parameters of Euglena gracilis like motility, swimming velocity, gravitactic orientation, cell compactness and cell growth were used as end points. In short-term experiments, the maximum adverse effects on motility, velocity, cell shape and gravitaxis were observed after 1 h of exposure. With further increase in exposure time to the detergent a slight recovery of these parameters was observed. In long-term experiments, the detergent caused severe disturbances to E. gracilis. Motility, cell growth and cell compactness (shape) with EC50 values of 0.064, 0.18 and 2.05 %, respectively, were found as the most sensitive parameters to detergent stress. There was a slight positive effect on gravitactic orientation at the lowest two concentrations; at higher concentrations of the detergent cells orientation was highly impaired giving EC50 values of 1.75 and 2.52 % for upward swimming and r-value, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Cell Biology Division, Friedrich-Alexander University, Staudtstr. 5, 91058, Erlangen, Germany. azizswabi@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Azizullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Azizullah
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: Waheed
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ullah
authors.forename: Imran
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Donat-Peter
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Häder
mesh_terms: D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003902:Detergents / Q000633:toxicity*; D005056:Euglena gracilis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D003902:Detergents; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical