Consequences of detergent pollution of the sea: effects on regenerating sponge cubes of Geodia cydonium.

Regenerating cubes of the sponge Geodia cydonium cyconium were used as a model in the investigation of detergent pollution in the sea. The anionic detergent sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) and a 1:1 mixture of Faks and Radion, two commercial laundry detergents, were used in the concentration range from 1 X 10(-9) g/ml (1 ppb) to 1 X 10(-5) g/ml. It is shown that SDS is taken up, weakly accumulated but not incorporated into the macromolecular fractions of the sponge. At concentrations of 0.1 ppm and above, SDS decreases the uptake of thymidine, uridine and phenylalanine into the acid-soluble sponge fraction. Their incorporation into the acid insoluble fractions, which have been isolated, was different from the controls at 10 ppb and higher levels. Faks and Radion were less active by a factor of 10. However, they showed similar effects. The chemical composition of the regenerating sponge cubes with respect to DNA, RNA and protein content has been evaluated. The alterations are less pronounced on detergent incubation than precursor uptake. The use of the cetyltrimethyl-ammoniumbromide-turbidity-dilution technique reveals drastic qualitative changes in the nucleic acid fractions. The relevant literature on biological effects of detergent is listed. It is shown that this investigation extends the scale of known effects far into the low and pollution-relevant concentration levels.