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Hydrobiological Journal

ISSN for PRINT: 0018-8166

Institutional price:	$1994.00
Issues per year:	6

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2003, Volume39

121 pages

Issue price - $369.00

On the Method of Toxicological Experiments with Hydrobionts Using Heavy Metals

L. P. Braginskiy
Institute of Hydrobiology National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

P. N. Linnik
Institute of Hydrobiology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

ABSTRACT

A significant complexity (illustrated by chemical and biological dependences) of the problem consisted in the determination of toxicity of heavy metals for hydrobionts in modeling toxicological experiments was under consideration. The greatest difficulties as to the estimation of results are connected with complexation processes in which heavy metals, organic substances of natural water, and excretions and metabolites of test organisms take part (chemical detoxification). The necessity is noted for the recalculation of initial metal concentrations to the doses determining the actual toxic effect. The recalculation formulas are proposed, which take into account a biomass of test organisms and the rates of complexation and biological absorption of heavy metals. Attention is concentrated on the fact that doses of heavy metal received by the whole organism and its several vitally important organs are inadequate to the predetermined concentrations created initially because of chemical and biological detoxification. As the free cations are main toxic form of metals, the maximum concentration limits have to be calculated not by the total concentration of a metal, but based on a content of toxic cations in the water of an experimental vessel.