Bioavailability of sediment-bound contaminants and the importance of digestive history

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:37401

Weston, D P; Penry, D L; Baker, J E ^[1]

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1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

It is generally recognized that animals will optimize their gain of energy and nutrients from a given food source, and acclimation processes operating over a period of days are important to this optimization. This research investigates whether the bioavailability of sediment-bound contaminants varies as a function of acclimation period to a given sediment type. In other words, would the bioavailability of a sediment-associated contaminant be determined by whether the animal had in the recent past fed on a sediment with similar physical characteristics? If this dependence did exist, it could be of considerable importance to sediment toxicity testing and toxicokinetic modeling. The polychaete, Abarenicola Pacifica, was exposed to sediments spiked with phenanthrene and benzo(a)pyrene. Bioavailability of these contaminants was determined both by assimilation efficiency and body burden. Preliminary data suggest that PAH bioavailability is not a function of digestive history, i.e., the rate or efficiency of PAH uptake was not dependent upon whether the animal had spent a pre-exposure period in sediment physically similar to the contaminated material. This observation would support either: (1) minimal importance of digestion as a route of PAH uptake, or (2) passive uptake of PAH across the gut wall with little involvement of enzymatic digestion.

• OSTI ID: 37401
• Report Number(s): CONF-9410273--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
ANNELIDS
BIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY
CONTAMINATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
SEDIMENTS
SENSITIVITY
TOXICITY
WATER POLLUTION