Water quality assessment is vital for identifying potential hazards to both the environment and human health. This paper suggests a revolutionary new approach to toxicity testing which would have significant implications for a wide range of industries and potentially the way in which water quality is measured.
The activation of toxicity pathways may be more sensitive than testing for toxicity endpoints. This is the principle behind Tox21, a ground-breaking project examining chemicals using high throughput technology. This same thinking has inspired Escher et al to use an assay to test surface, drinking and wastewater for indicators of oxidative stress and use this as a measure of water quality.
Escher et al used a sensitive cell line (AREc32) which, via luciferase expression, reports the activation of the antioxidant response element (ARE). The ARE, being sensitive to a relatively wide range of stressors and highly conserved in all human cells is a good toxicity screening tool.
The cell line proved to be sensitive to a variety of the validation test chemicals used, with ARE activation often proving more sensitive than cytotoxicity to stress.
The examination of environmental grab samples provided interesting results suggesting that although water treatment generally reduced stressors which would lead to ARE activation, chlorination increased them. However, this was reversed by the time the water had reached the drinking tap.
This paper reports the validation and methodology for using this cell line as an indicator for water quality. Although the authors identified areas for development and improvement the technique has already provided data on an impressive range of samples, illustrating its potential use. It’s free to access* on our site for the next four weeks, so why not download the paper here:
Water quality assessment using the AREc32 reporter gene assay indicative of the oxidative stress response pathway
Beate I. Escher, Mriga Dutt, Erin Maylin, Janet Y. M. Tang, Simon Toze, C. Roland Wolf and Matti Lang
DOI: 10.1039/C2EM30506B
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Published on behalf of Sian Evans, Journal of Environmental Monitoring web science writer. Sian is a PhD student based in Bath, United Kingdom
