Wang Yan, Lundqvist Johan, Cedergreen Nina
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg 1871, Denmark.
Department of Biomedicine and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7028, Uppsala SE-750 07, Sweden.
Environ Sci Technol. 2025 Sep 2;59(34):18042-18055. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5c04027. Epub 2025 Aug 19.
Aquatic environments contain mixtures of contaminants, of which many cannot be detected through conventional chemical monitoring. Effect-directed analysis (EDA) uses bioassays to detect bioactive compounds and relies on sensitive small volume assays. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of three unicellular species (, , and ) and five vertebrate cell lines to 21 chemicals with diverse modes of action. The algae assay exhibited the highest sensitivity, detecting toxicity in >80% of the chemicals, while yeast was the least responsive. Subsequently, 279 wastewater samples were screened using algae and three cell lines. Algae detected toxicity in >92% of the samples, while the cell line viability assays responded to 21-53% of the samples. Bioavailability modeling revealed that medium composition significantly influenced chemical partitioning. Algae assays that performed in protein- and lipid-free medium were more sensitive to lipophilic compounds than assays using heterotrophic cells. We hypothesize that medium-driven differences in bioavailability contribute to the higher sensitivity of algae, even to pharmaceuticals with no known algal targets. Combining algae and DR-EcoScreen cell assays captured 96.4% of detected toxicities in environmental samples. This combination offers a high-throughput, cost-effective strategy for screening environmental samples for bioactive substances.
水生环境中含有多种污染物混合物，其中许多无法通过传统化学监测手段检测到。效应导向分析（EDA）利用生物测定法来检测生物活性化合物，并依赖于灵敏的小体积测定法。本研究的目的是评估三种单细胞物种（、和）以及五种脊椎动物细胞系对21种具有不同作用方式的化学物质的敏感性。藻类测定表现出最高的敏感性，能检测出80%以上化学物质的毒性，而酵母的反应最不灵敏。随后，使用藻类和三种细胞系对279个废水样本进行了筛选。藻类检测出92%以上样本的毒性，而细胞系活力测定对21%-53%的样本有反应。生物可利用性建模表明，培养基成分显著影响化学物质的分配。在无蛋白和无脂质培养基中进行的藻类测定对亲脂性化合物比使用异养细胞的测定更敏感。我们推测，培养基驱动的生物可利用性差异导致藻类具有更高的敏感性，甚至对于没有已知藻类靶点的药物也是如此。结合藻类和DR-EcoScreen细胞测定法能捕捉到环境样本中96.4%已检测到的毒性。这种组合为筛选环境样本中的生物活性物质提供了一种高通量、经济高效的策略。
