Toxicity and mutagenicity of component classes of oils isolated from soils at petroleum- and creosote-contaminated sites.

Microtox and Ames bioassays were employed to assess acute toxicity and mutagenicity of water soluble components of class-fractionated oils extracted from one creosote- and four petroleum-contaminated soils. Microtox results revealed that potential acute toxicity resides mainly in the polar class fractions at three sites and indicated potential synergistic and antagonistic effects between compounds in the total extracts at two sites. Ames Salmonella/microsome testing indicated that the polyaromatic fractions at two sites exhibit weak mutagenicity with enzymatic activation, while the polar fractions at two sites are weakly mutagenic without enzyme activation. Further chemical characterization of the polar and polyaromatic fractions is required to fully assess the potential of health and ecological risks at the creosote-and petroleum-contaminated sites exhibiting these toxic responses.