title: Causes of highway road dust toxicity to an estuarine amphipod: Evaluating the effects of nicotine.
abstract: Urban road dust can potentially have adverse effects on ecosystems if it is discharged into receiving waters. This study investigated the causes of highway road dust toxicity by performing sediment toxicity identification evaluation (TIE) tests with an estuarine amphipod, Grandidierella japonica. In addition to metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are traditionally considered to be the major toxicants in road runoff, we focused on dissolved nicotine as a causative toxicant. The sediment TIE results suggested that organic contaminants contributed to the majority of toxicity, and that the contribution of unionized nicotine to the toxicity was the highest among the chemicals considered. However, additional mortality tests with 48-h pulsed nicotine exposure demonstrated that exposure to nicotine at the same concentration as the baseline level in TIE tests did not cause significant 10-day amphipod mortality. Thus, the road dust toxicity could not be explained only by unionized nicotine, thereby suggesting contributions from joint effects of the measured toxicants and the presence of other unmeasured factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan. Electronic address: hikik@env.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kyoshiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hiki
authors.affiliation: Department of Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumiyuki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.affiliation: Environmental Science Center, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tobino
mesh_terms: D033304:Amphipoda / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D008670:Metals / Q000633:toxicity; D009538:Nicotine / Q000633:toxicity; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000633:toxicity; D018675:Toxicity Tests
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D008670:Metals; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D009538:Nicotine
keywords: Estuarine amphipod; Nicotine; Pulsed exposure; Road dust; Toxicity identification evaluation (TIE)