Toxicity assessment of the water from Sava River using algae, plants and fish

With the rapid expansion of modern society in both industrial and technological aspect, it is becoming important to assess the risk of compounds which are released daily in our environment in enormous quantities. For this reason, a broad spectrum of ecotoxicological assays with various model organisms has been developed. In this study, toxicity of the Sava River has been assessed by using different model organisms: freshwater algae Chlorella vulgaris, clover Trifolium repens, common wheat Triticum aestivum and zebrafish Danio rerio embryos. Model organisms have been exposed to filtered samples of the Sava River from five different locations (Jesenice, Jankomir, Hrušćica, Rugvica, and Lukavec). Pollution profiles of samples were assessed by chemical analysis. Exposure of Chlorella vulgaris to samples caused growth inhibition and decreased chlorophyll a concentration. Root and/or sprout elongation of Trifolium repens and Triticum aestivum was observed to have lowest rates after exposure to same samples in both model organisms. Exposing the zebrafish embryos to samples resulted in minor mortality rate and sublethal effects. Activity of ABC transporters was inhibited in all samples. The use of these ecotoxicological bioassays, combined with chemical analysis, has resulted in comprehensive toxicity assessment of water from five different sites in Sava River, offering basis for monitoring of lentic and lotic waters. Uzevši u obzir brzo širenje modernog društva u industrijskom i tehnološkom aspektu, postaje nužno procijeniti rizik tvari koje se svakodnevno ispuštaju u naš okoliš u velikim količinama. U tu svrhu, razvijen je široki spektar ekotoksikoloških testova na različitim modelnim organizmima. Unutar ovog rada, istraživana je toksičnost rijeke Save upotrebom različitih modelnih organizama: slatkovodne alge Chlorella vulgaris, djeteline Trifolium repens, pšenice Triticum aestivum i embrija ribe zebrice Danio rerio. Modelni organizmi izlagani su filtriranim uzorcima rijeke Save s pet lokacija (Jesenice, Jankomir, Hrušćica, Rugvica i Lukavec). Prisutnost toksikanata na ovim postajama utvrđena je kemijskom analizom vode. Izloženost alge Chlorella vulgaris uzorcima uzrokovala je inhibiciju njihovog rasta i smanjenu koncentraciju klorofila a. Produljenje korijenja i/ili izdanka kod vrsta Trifolium repens i Triticum aestivum imalo je najnižu stopu nakon izloženosti istim uzorcima kod oba modelna organizma. Izlaganje embrija zebrica uzorcima rezultiralo je niskom stopom mortaliteta i subletalnih efekata. Aktivnost ABC transportera kod zebrica inhibirana je prilikom izlaganja svim ispitivanim uzorcima. Ovakva upotreba ekotoksikoloških testova u kombinaciji s kemijskom analizom, omogućila je sveobuhvatnu procjenu toksičnosti uzoraka rijeke Save s pet različitih postaja, ali i pružila temelj za praćenje stanja tekućica i stajaćica.