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EFFECTS OF FRACTIONS FROM BIODEGRADED ALASKA NORTH SLOPE CRUDE OIL ON EMBRYONIC AND LARVAL INLAND SILVERSIDES, MENIDIA BERYLLINA
Citation:
Chapman, P J., D P. Middaugh, M. E. Shelton, C L. McKenney Jr., AND L A. Courtney. EFFECTS OF FRACTIONS FROM BIODEGRADED ALASKA NORTH SLOPE CRUDE OIL ON EMBRYONIC AND LARVAL INLAND SILVERSIDES, MENIDIA BERYLLINA. ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION AND TOXICOLOGY 42(2):236-243, (2002).
Description:
Embryonic inland silversides, Menidia beryllina, were exposed to neutral, water soluble fractions (WSFs) resulting from microbial degradation of artificially weathered Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude oil. Three individual microbes obtained from Prince William Sound, Alaska and designated Phe#6 (enriched on phenanthrene), Hexaco#2 (enriched on the straight-chain alkane, hexacosane) and E12V (grown by enrichment on Bushnell-Haas medium containing 0.2% pristane, a branched alkane) were used to individually biodegrade weathered ANS crude oil for 14 days in darkness in 20 L glass carboys containing nutrient enriched, sterilized 20 o/oo salinity seawater at 20?1? C. Thereafter, neutral WSFs resulting from biodegradation of ANS 521 by each microbe were recovered and weighted. Neutral WSFs recovered were: 1.76 mg/L for Phe#6, 1.85 mg/L for Hexaco#2 and 13.02 mg/L for the E12V microbe. Embryo toxicity and teratogenicity tests revealed that exposure of embryos to the WSFs from the E12V incubation (with a total recovered neutral fraction approximately 7 times greater than the Phe#6 and Hexaco#2 incubations) resulted in the most severe responses in craniofacial, cardiovascular and skeletal organ systems. The total neutral WSFs recovered from the E12 V biodegradation of weathered ANS 521 were subfractionated into saturated (eluted with hexane), aromatic (eluted with CH2Cl2), polar fractions (eluted with ethyl ether), and recombined (saturated+aromatic+polar) fractions. Developing fish embryos were then exposed to each subfraction and the recombined subfractions. The polar subfraction and recombined subfractions proved to be the most embryo toxic and teratogenic. They resulted in statistically significant (p less than or equal to 0.05) responses (compared to controls) for craniofacial, cardiovascular, skeletal and total severity effects in one or both tests with these subfractions.