Microcalorimetric study the toxic effect of hexavalent chromium on microbial activity of Wuhan brown sandy soil: an in vitro approach.

A multi-channel thermal activity monitor was applied to study soil microbial activity in Wuhan brown sandy soil in the presence of different concentrations of hexavalent chromium (K(2)Cr(2)O(7)). In order to stimulate the soil microbial activity, 5.0mg of glucose and 5.0mg of ammonium sulfate were added to a 1.20-g soil sample under a controlled humidity of 35%. The results show that the poisonous species of K(2)Cr(2)O(7) at an half inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) value of 4.27 microg mL(-1) against soil microbe, and an increase of the amount of hexavalent chromium is associated to a decrease in the microbial activity of the soil, probably due to an increase in the toxicity of hexavalent chromium, affecting strongly the life in this soil microbial environment. Our work also suggests that microcalorimetry is a fast, simple and more sensitive method that can be easily performed to study the toxicity of different species of heavy metals on microorganism compared to other biological methods.