engleski

Toxicity characterization of organic contaminants in effluents from the city of Zagreb

The purpose of the study was to identify classes of organic compounds giving rise to toxic effects in effluents from the city of Zagreb. A sample of wastewater was collected from the main sewer in June 2005. The sample was passed through SPE-cartridges and fractionated by HPLC. Thirty fractions were collected and exposed to chemical analysis and toxicity testing. The fractions were tested for membrane integrity, metabolic inhibition, estrogenic activity, and CYP1A induction by use of fish in vitro bioassays. The HPLC fractions demonstrating toxicity were analysed by GC-MS in full scan mode for tentative identification. Comparison of the log Kow of identified compounds vs. fraction number was as expected from literature data. The suite of bioassays showed biological responses after exposure to the raw extracts for all endpoints tested. Bioassay testing of the fine fractions obtained by semi-preparative HPLC produced a range of endpoint-specific toxicity profiles for each sample. GC-MS characterisation was used to identify candidate compounds for the toxic activity. The presentation will present a description of the approach used and results from this characterisation procedure.

Toxicity; Organic Contaminants; Effluents; GC-MS; Bioassays

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