Assessment of toxicity of two nitroaromatic compounds in the freshwater fish Cyprinus carpio

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the toxicological response of p-nitrotoluene and p-nitroaniline to the key fish species, Cyprinus carpio. A freshwater fish bioassay based on the 96 h LC₅₀ was used to estimate the single and joint toxicity of the two chemicals. The toxicity of p-nitrotoluene was greater than that of p-nitroaniline based on 96 h LC₅₀ values of 40.74 mg·L^-1 and 48.99 mg·L^-1, respectively. Both compounds had moderate toxicity toward Cyprinus carpio, and this toxicity increased with the exposure duration and concentration. Binary mixtures of the compounds were more toxic than the individual compounds at 96 h, and they acted upon partial addition. When the exposure time was longer, the toxicity increased for mixtures of compounds with the same concentration or toxicity. The results of this study suggest that exposure to a combination of these chemicals would result in a higher environmental risk in aquatic systems than exposure to either compound alone. Further research is needed to investigate the combined effects and sublethal toxicity of p-nitrotoluene and p-nitroaniline, since they are both still used in China.

Keywords

joint toxicity / Cyprinus carpio / LC₅₀ / p-nitrotoluene / p-nitroaniline / toxic unit

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Acknowledgements

This study was co-funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50979006), Projects of Hebei Science and Technology Department (No. 12276708D), Projects of Hebei Education Department (No. ZH2011119), Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province(No. D2010000867), the Doctor Development Foundation Project in Hebei University of Science and Technology (No. 000446), and the Key Discipline Foundation in Hebei Province.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg