title: The combined use of the PLHC-1 cell line and the recombinant yeast assay to assess the environmental quality of estuarine and coastal sediments.
abstract: Sediment contamination poses a potential risk for both ecosystems and human health. Risk assessment is troublesome as sediments contain complex mixtures of toxicants, and traditional chemical analyses can neither provide information about potential hazards to organisms nor identify and measure all present contaminants. This work combines the use of the PLHC-1 cell line and the recombinant yeast assay (RYA) to assess the environmental quality of estuarine and coastal sediments. The application of multiple endpoints (cytotoxicity, generation of oxidative stress, presence of CYP1A inducing agents, micronucleus formation and estrogenicity) revealed that the organic extracts of those sediments affected by industrial activities or collected near harbours and untreated urban discharges showed significant cytotoxicity, micronuclei and CYP1A induction. The study highlights the usefulness of the applied bioassays to identify those sediments that could pose risk to aquatic organisms and that require further action to improve their environmental quality.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Chemistry Department, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: sabine.schnell@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schnell
authors.forename: Alba
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olivares
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Piña
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Echavarri-Erasun
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lacorte
authors.forename: Cinta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Porte
mesh_terms: D001681:Biological Assay; D002460:Cell Line; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D012623:Seawater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D015003:Yeasts
chemical_list: D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Biomonitoring; CYP1A induction; Cytotoxicity; Genotoxicity; PLHC-1; Sediment