CYTOTOXIC EFFECTS OF EMERGING CHEMICAL CONTAMINANTS: AN IN VITRO TOXICOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT USING NEUTRAL RED RETENTION DATA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65327/bp.v12i3.2549Keywords:
emerging contaminants, cytotoxicity, Neutral Red Retention, environmental mixtures, in vitro toxicologyAbstract
The detection of emerging chemical contaminants is increasing in aquatic environments, and complex mixtures may result in biological effects which are not adequately captured by chemical monitoring alone. In this study, six environmental samples with publicly available chemical and NRB data were used to assess the cytotoxic effects of contaminant mixtures. Chemical profiles were defined by presence or absence of compounds, distribution of chemical classes and total concentration of contaminants, and cytotoxicity was determined at various REF levels. Differences among samples were examined using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, non-parametric comparisons and simple regression to analyse the concentration-response patterns. In all, 457 target compounds were represented, the largest groups of pollutants being pharmaceuticals and pesticides. Samples H3–H6 had significantly higher chemical loads than H1 and H2 and higher Neutral Red cytotoxicity responses. Maximum cytotoxicity was obtained at 71% for H3, 74% for H4 and 62% for H6 with minimal effects in H1. In general, cytotoxicity increased with enrichment, and significant positive concentration-response relationships were found especially for H3 and H6. In addition, there were positive relationships between contaminant load and cytotoxicity under the highest exposure condition. The results indicate the utility of combining chemical characterisation and in vitro bioassays to assess the biological relevance of complex mixtures of environmental contaminants. The Neutral Red Retention stain was a helpful tool in determining cell injury and was used for sample differentiation to identify samples with different toxicological profiles.
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