Estimating low-toxic-effect concentrations in closed-system algal toxicity tests.

The no-observed-effect concentrations (NOEC) and EC(10) values for 108 organic compounds were estimated, using multiple endpoints (i.e., biopopulation, growth rate, and dissolved oxygen production), from previous data obtained by a closed-system algal toxicity test (test alga: Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata). These low-toxic-effect concentrations are valuable to risk assessment of chemicals and protection of the aquatic environment as such information is quite scarce in existing toxicological databases. Furthermore, based on limited amount of available data, we found that the risk of organic toxicants to phytoplankton may be severely underestimated by existing databases, which are primarily derived by the conventional batch technique. Good correlation relationships between NOEC (or EC(10)) and EC(50) values were established. For polar and nonpolar narcotics, quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) based on hydrophobicity, and/or the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy (Elumo) were developed with satisfactory predictive powers. The above statistical relationships can be applied to derive a preliminary estimation for the low-toxic-effect levels for other (or new) organic compounds that has no toxicological data available.