Assessing organic toxic pollutants in fish-canning factory effluents using cultured fish cells.

The fibroblastic RTG-2 fish cell line has been used to assess the cytotoxicity of organic compounds present in the effluents discharged by a canning factory. Organic compounds of the effluents were extracted and concentrated, and their cytotoxicity determined by measuring three end points: the cellular mass, the cell viability and the intracellular ATP content of the cells. Three out of the four organic concentrates were found to be highly cytotoxic, and these three toxic concentrates were fractionated, into 210 organic fractions, using an HPLC system. Up to six toxic fractions, present in all three organic concentrates, could be detected. Thus, when assessing the environmental effect of fish-canning factory effluents, the presence of specific toxic chemicals must be considered, in addition to toxicological problems due to fish-offal sewage.