Determination of bioconcentration potential of tetrachloroethylene in marine algae by 13C

The use of stable isotope of organic-carbon, organic-13C, as a tracer for the determination of the concentration of tetrachloroethylene (PCE), CA, in Heterosigma akashiwo and Skeletonema costatum was examined. CA determined by the 13C and GC methods showed good agreement with each other. This suggests that it is reasonable and reliable to determine the bioconcentration potentail of PCE in marine algae. Fitting values of bioconcentration potentail parameters, including uptake rate constant k1, elimination rate constant k2 and bioconcentration factor on the basis of dry weight BCFD, were done not only to the time course for PCE uptake by the algae with the bioconcentration model, but also to experimental data for “percent inhibition(%) exposure concentration of PCE time” with the combined bioconcentration and probability model. The values obtained from the bioconcentration model were consistent with those from the combined bioconcentration and probability model. With the parameters (such as k1, k2, growth rate constant kG, critical concentration of HOCs in the organism resulting in growth inhibition CA* and spread factor S) the variability in toxicity (such as EC10, EC50, EC70) can be estimated from the combined bioconcentration and probability model, which fits well with the experimental observations.