The Assessment of Toxicity on Organic Sludge Using Acetylcholinesterase, Cytochrome P450, and Hsp70 Extracted from Earthworm (Eisenia fetida)

The toxicitiy of organic sludge such as municipal sewage sludge (MSS), industrial sewage sludge (ISS), alcohol fermentation processing sludge (AFPS) and leather processing sludge (LPS) were evaluated with three environmental biomarkers as acetylcholinesterase, cytochrome P450, and heat shock protein 70 extracted from earthworm (Eisenia fetida). Their toxicities were compared with those of pig manure compost (PMC). MSS, ISS, LPS, and AFPS did not significantly affect the acetylcolinesterase activity, whereas only the elutriate of PMC slightly was increased the activity. MSS, AFPS, and PMC tended to slightly inhibit the cytochrome activity, but ISS and LPS showed significantly the inhibitory effect on cytochrome . The hsp70 expression began to increase after treatments and showed high induction at 6 hour, followed by zero level at around 12 hour. The quantity of the hsp70 expressed by elutriate treatments of PMC, AFPS, MSS, ISS, and LPS was 1.9, 3.0, 3.3, 4.4, and 4.7 fold higher than that of distilled water. These results indicate that in toxicity tests of five organic waste materials, four kinds of sludge materials appeared more toxic than PMC. Results of AChE, P450, and hsp70 of earthworm might be useful for expecting or assessing an effect by exposure of organic wastes to earthworms in soil.