State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China.
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
Chemosphere. 2020 Mar;243:125348. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125348. Epub 2019 Nov 13.
Guidelines of ecological risk assessment (ERA) used worldwide, based on S-shaped threshold dose-response curve, fail to consider hormesis, a biphasic dose-response model represented as a J-shaped or an inverted U-shaped curve, that occurs in real-life environment. Now that humans are routinely exposed to chemicals below the threshold where hormetic stimulation prevails, it is noteworthy that over-strictness about chemical control also means a waste of limited resources. So hormesis leads to the gap between guidelines with S-shaped model and reality with hormesis model concerning ERA. In this study, hormetic effects of sulfachloropyridazine (SCP) on the bioluminescence of Aliivibrio fischeri (A. f) under 41 conditions to simulate the real environment were investigated and compared with ERA practice by some parameters, such as no observed effect concentration (NOEC), hormetic-stimulatory range (HSR) and goal concentration (GC). Not only is the reproducibility of hormesis in real-life contexts confirmed, binomial distribution (p = 0.644 > 0.05) of the relative position of GC and HSR is also found, revealing a 50% probability for GC to falls in HSR, which proves the over-strictness of ERA both qualitatively and quantitatively. This study provides a novel view for ERA that hormetic principles should dominate, and conditions where S-shaped dose-response model works should be singled out on a specific basis to bridge the hormesis-induced gap.
全球范围内使用的生态风险评估 (ERA) 指南基于 S 形阈值剂量反应曲线，未能考虑到激效，这是一种双相剂量反应模型，表现为 J 形或倒 U 形曲线，这种曲线发生在现实环境中。由于人类经常接触低于激效刺激占主导地位的阈值的化学物质，因此值得注意的是，对化学物质的过度控制也意味着对有限资源的浪费。因此，激效导致了具有 S 形模型的指南与具有激效模型的现实之间的 ERA 差距。在这项研究中，通过 41 种条件下的磺胺氯哒嗪 (SCP) 对发光菌（A. f）生物发光的激效作用进行了研究，并通过一些参数（如无观察效应浓度（NOEC）、激效刺激范围（HSR）和目标浓度（GC））与 ERA 实践进行了比较。不仅证实了在现实环境中激效的重现性，还发现了 GC 和 HSR 相对位置的二项式分布（p=0.644>0.05），这表明 GC 有 50%的概率落入 HSR 中，这从定性和定量两方面证明了 ERA 的过度严格性。本研究为 ERA 提供了一个新的视角，即激效原则应占主导地位，应根据具体情况单独确定 S 形剂量反应模型适用的条件，以弥合激效引起的差距。
