Sperm cell toxicity test using sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus lamarck (Echinodermata: Echinoidea): sensitivity and discriminatory ability toward anionic and nonionic surfactants.

A reliable sperm cell toxicity test procedure has been developed for the Mediterranean sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. The sensitivity and discriminatory ability of the test were investigated with regard to surfactants and their biotransformation products. Aromatic and aliphatic surfactants of anionic (linear alkylbenzene sulfonates [LAS]) and nonionic (alcohol polyethoxylates [AE] and nonylphenol polyethoxylates [NPE]) types and their aerobic biodegradation products, i.e., sulfophenylcarboxylates (SPC), polyethylene glycols (PEG), carboxylated polyethylene glycols (PEGC), carboxylated AE (AEC), and nonylphenol (NP), were examined in order to elucidate the influence of their molecular structure on toxicity. Experimental results reveal that the sperm cell test showed good discriminatory ability among all tested compounds, median effective concentration (EC50) values differing by about four orders of magnitude. The toxicity of anionic surfactants depends on the length of the alkyl chain and that of nonionic surfactants is due to their length and branching. Much lower toxicity was shown by aerobic biodegradation products in comparison with that of their parent compounds, with the exception of NP. The obtained EC50s were comparable with available literature data and constitute new toxicity data regarding surfactants for sea urchins.