Effects of elevated temperature on the toxicity of copper and oxytetracycline in the marine model, Euplotes crassus: A climate change perspective

Gomiero, A.; Viarengo, A.

Effects of elevated temperature on the toxicity of copper and oxytetracycline in the marine model, Euplotes crassus: A climate change perspective

2014

Gomiero, A. | Viarengo, A.

Trace metals and broad-spectrum antibiotic drugs are common environmental contaminants, the importance of which is increasing due to global climate change-related effects.In the present study, the biological model organism E. crassus was first acclimated to five temperatures, from 25 °C to 33 °C, followed by exposure to nominal concentrations of copper, the antibiotic model compound oxytetracycline and mixtures of both, at increasing thermal conditions. Variations of temperature-related toxicity were assessed by two high-level endpoint tests, survival and replication rates, and two sublethal parameters: endocytosis rate and lysosomal membrane stability. The selected toxicants presented opposite behaviours as the protozoa's survival rates increased following an increasing thermal gradient in the oxytetracycline-related treatments, and a decline of tolerance in metal-related treatments was observed. Results of tests combining binary mixtures of tested toxicants showed a complex pattern of responses.

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