Assessment of toxic interactions of heavy metals in multi-component mixtures using sea urchin embryo-larval bioassay.

The toxicities of copper, lead, zinc and cadmium ions and various concentrations of mixtures of them were studied using sea urchin (Strongylocentyotus intermedius) embryo-larval bioassay. Toxic unit analysis was used to determine type of joint action for each mixture combination (binary, ternary and quaternary). For the majority of the binary combinations, the interactions were of synergistic nature, but in ternary or quaternary mixtures, the joint action was mainly concentration additive, while antagonism was only observed for two mixtures (Cu+Pb and Zn+Cd) among all the 11 combinations. Two prevailing theoretical models: the concentration addition (CA) model and the independent action (IA) model were used to predict the mixture toxicities. The weak correlation obtained (R≃0.55) indicated that the hypotheses of mode of action involved in the two models to some extent failed to describe the behavior of the mixture system. Then a novel bio-concentration factor-based model was developed and was successful to predict the toxicities of mixtures, with an obtained R of 0.92. This model indicated that in a mixture system of heavy metals, the joint toxicity was mainly determined by the combined action of bio-concentrations of metals other than the simply similar (CA) or dissimilar (IA) modes of action of the mixture components.