Establishing an <i>In Vitro</i> Model to Assess the Toxicity of 6PPD-Quinone and Other Tire Wear Transformation Products

The tire wear transformation product 6PPD-quinone (6PPDQ) has been implicated as the causative factor for broad scale mortality events coho salmon in Pacific Northwest. Highly variable sensitivity to 6PPDQ closely related salmonids complicates efforts evaluate broader toxicological impacts aquatic ecosystems. Our goals were (1) validate large range of vivo species sensitivities reported coho, Chinook, and sockeye (2) develop an vitro platform assessing toxicity. In studies confirmed acute juvenile (12 h LC50 = 80.4 ng/L) demonstrated that not vulnerable mortality. Chinook sensitive at initial concentrations >25 μg/L, ∼10-fold greater than environmental measurements. vitro, cell line CSE-119 was acutely (metabolic EC50 7.9 cytotoxicity 6.1 μg/L). Analogous (CHSE-214) (SSE-5) lines nonresponsive both assays, rainbow trout RTG-2 cells began showing metabolic effects 68 μg/L (EC5). Recreation species-specific implicates conserved modes action could be utilized mechanistic toxicity screening other PPD products.