Mechanistic models to perform population risk assessment with the midge Chironomus riparius: application to heavy metals

Dynamic energy-based modeling of uranium and cadmium joint toxicity to Caenorhabditis elegans

Toxicokinetic - toxicodynamic energy-based models offer new alternatives to the commonly used approaches for the analysis of mixture toxicity data. Based on the Dynamic Energy Budget theory, DEBtox models enable the description of several endpoints over time simultaneously under the same framework. However, such model still has to be faced with experimental data in a multi-contamination context. In this study, the predictive capacities of a DEBtox model to describe the uranium and cadmium joint toxicity over the entire growth and reproduction period of the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was examined. The two reference additivity approaches, Concentration Addition and Response addition, implemented in the DEBtox model were tested. Assuming no interaction between the two toxicants through Response addition, the DEBtox model allowed a rather accurate fit of the U and Cd joint effects on the growth and reproduction of C. elegans: an interaction between the two metals at the toxicokinetic or toxicodynamic level seems thus unlikely or has only minor consequences. Interestingly, this study underlines that even if the compounds of a mixture share the same DEBtox physiological mode of action (in this case a decrease in assimilation), the Response addition approach may provide a better fit of joint toxicity data than the Concentration addition approach. Moreover, the present work highlighted limitations in the model predictions which are related to the simplifications of the DEBtox framework and its adaptations to the physiology of C. elegans and which lead to an overestimation of the U and Cd joint toxicity in some cases.

Comparison of species sensitivity distributions based on population or individual endpoints

Species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) developed from individual and population endpoints were compared based on simulations and a case study. The simulations were performed with five invertebrate species accounting for the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in large European lowland rivers and for five benthic invertebrates used as laboratory species. Population growth rate 10% effective concentration (EC10) values were, in most of the simulations, higher than the lowest of the EC10 values at the individual level. However, for the set of ecologically representative species, the fifth percentile level of this distribution (HC5) was more protective for population endpoints than for individual endpoints. This was the opposite for the set of laboratory species. Population and individual SSDs were also compared based on existing data on Cu for the five laboratory invertebrate species. In this case, the calculated population HC5 value was almost twice the individual value, and the authors showed much reduced variability between species sensitivities at population level compared with individual level. They conclude that population-based HC5 would generally be more protective than individual-based HC5. However, the change of level could reveal higher homogeneity at population level than at individual level, supporting the use of population-based HC5 to avoid overprotection. The authors thus advise the derivation of population-based HC5, as soon as it is possible, to derive such value with a relevant panel of species.

Biology-based modeling to analyze uranium toxicity data on Daphnia magna in a multigeneration study

Recent studies have investigated chronic toxicity of waterborne depleted uranium on the life cycle and physiology of Daphnia magna. In particular, a reduction in food assimilation was observed. Our aims here were to examine whether this reduction could fully account for observed effects on both growth and reproduction, for three successive generations, and to investigate through microscope analyses whether this reduction resulted from direct damage to the intestinal epithelium. We analyzed data obtained by exposing Daphnia magna to uranium over three successive generations. We used energy-based models, which are both able to fit simultaneously growth and reproduction and are biologically relevant. Two possible modes of action were compared - decrease in food assimilation rate and increase in maintenance costs. In our models, effects were related either to internal concentration or to exposure concentration. The model that fitted the data best represented a decrease in food assimilation related to exposure concentration. Furthermore, observations of consequent histological damage to the intestinal epithelium, together with uranium precipitates in the epithelial cells, supported the assumption that uranium has direct effects on the digestive tract. We were able to model the data in all generations and showed that sensitivity increased from one generation to the next, in particular through a significant increase of the intensity of effect, once the threshold for appearance of effects was exceeded.

Potential application of population models in the European ecological risk assessment of chemicals. II. Review of models and their potential to address environmental protection aims

Whereas current chemical risk assessment (RA) schemes within the European Union (EU) focus mainly on toxicity and bioaccumulation of chemicals in individual organisms, most protection goals aim at preserving populations of nontarget organisms rather than individuals. Ecological models are tools rarely recommended in official technical documents on RA of chemicals, but are widely used by researchers to assess risks to populations, communities and ecosystems. Their great advantage is the relatively straightforward integration of the sensitivity of species to chemicals, the mode of action and fate in the environment of toxicants, life-history traits of the species of concern, and landscape features. To promote the usage of ecological models in regulatory risk assessment, this study tries to establish whether existing, published ecological modeling studies have addressed or have the potential to address the protection aims and requirements of the chemical directives of the EU. We reviewed 148 publications, and evaluated and analyzed them in a database according to defined criteria. Published models were also classified in terms of 5 areas where their application would be most useful for chemical RA. All potential application areas are well represented in the published literature. Most models were developed to estimate population-level responses on the basis of individual effects, followed by recovery process assessment, both in individuals and at the level of metapopulations. We provide case studies for each of the proposed areas of ecological model application. The lack of clarity about protection goals in legislative documents made it impossible to establish a direct link between modeling studies and protection goals. Because most of the models reviewed here were not developed for regulatory risk assessment, there is great potential and a variety of ecological models in the published literature.

Assessing the risk of metal mixtures in contaminated sediments on Chironomus riparius based on cytosolic accumulation

Sediments usually contain mixtures of trace metals introduced via natural geochemical processes and anthropogenic activities. Kinetics and effects of these metals are strongly dependent both on the composition of the mixture and on the physico-chemical characteristics of the sediment. Relating effects to metal concentration may consequently be advised. However, total accumulation may be a poor predictor of metal toxicity for Chironomus riparius exposed to contaminated field sediments. As an alternative, we proposed to relate effects on Chironomus growth with cytosolic metal accumulation, measured in larvae after a short exposure period. Dose-response relationships were derived for zinc, copper, and cadmium through single-metal exposure data analysed with toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics models. They permitted, on the basis of cytosolic accumulation measures, to predict successfully the effects of mixtures of cadmium, zinc, and copper on the growth of larvae exposed to spiked sediments, as well as to field sediments in which zinc and copper were assumed to be predominant.