Toxic effect of [Omim]BF4 and [Omim]Br on antioxidant stress and oxidative damage in earthworms (Eisenia fetida).

In this paper, model soil organism, earthworms (Eisenia fetida), were selected to examine the chronic toxic effect of two different ionic liquids (ILs) [Omim]BF4 and [Omim]Br. Earthworms were put into different ILs concentrations (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 mg/kg) in artificial soil and random selected on days 7, 14, 21 and 28. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant enzymes and detoxifying enzyme glutathione-S-transferase (GST) were researched for determination of antioxidant stress. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and olive tail moment (OTM) were researched to determine the oxidative damage. Both the pollutants had the same effect on earthworms: ILs led to accumulation of ROS, and then antioxidant enzymes and detoxification enzyme all changed to eliminate the effects of ROS, and the above process led to lipid peroxidation and DNA damage in earthworms. This paper shows that [Omim]BF4 and [Omim]Br both caused toxicity to earthworms and had the similar toxicity levels.