Critical body residues for lethal and sublethal effects of membrane narcotics in the midge, Chironomus riparius

The concept of the critical body residue (CBR) offers a compelling new way to evaluate hazard posed by persistent contaminants such as PCBs. The authors tested the utility of using CBRs for PCBs in an invertebrate species, Chironomus riparius. Acute toxicity (< 10 d) tests were performed with 2nd instar larvae by adding trace amounts of {sup 14}C-labeled PCBs to unlabeled PCBs in amounts sufficient to generate a dose-responsive mortality curve. Because of the limited water solubility of the PCBs tested, it was not possible to produce a toxic tissue concentration via aqueous exposure. This difficulty was overcome by allowing the midges to feed upon contaminated algae (Chlorella vulgaris) which could be loaded with much higher levels of PCBs than would dissolve in water. CBRs for acute toxicity were measured for 3 PCBs; an average CBR of about 1 mmol/kg was determined. If the midge CBRs are lipid normalized, they fall into the range of values that have previously been determined for vertebrates. The authors also evaluated CBRs in midges for a variety of sublethal impairments including development time within a stadium, larval weight and fecundity. A CBR of 1.09 {micro}mol/kg resulted in a significant increase in larval development timemore » and decrease in larval weight for second instar larvae. Tissue residues declined in the third and fourth instars, despite continuing exposure suggesting that the animals developed attenuating mechanisms or that contaminant loss at ecdysis is significant. Despite declining tissue residues throughout the larval instars, fecundity was reduced from 284 eggs/female in controls to 244 eggs/female in animals exposed to the highest sublethal concentration.« less