J Appl Biomed 4:105-110, 2006 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2006.010

Freshwater microcrustacean Daphnia magna Straus as an early screen model to compare toxicity of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors

Šárka Veselá1,2,*, Vlastimil Ondruška1, Kamil Kuča2, Jiří Patočka2,3
1 Research and Development Centre Hostivice, Jiráskova 165, Hostivice, Czech Republic
2 Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Military Health Sciences, University of Defense, Třebešská 1575, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
3 Department of Radiology and Toxicology, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

Daphnia magna is a freshwater microcrustacean which is often used for acute and chronic toxicity testing in aquatic ecotoxicology. Recently, tests with daphnids have been used to prescreen the toxicity of newly synthesized acetylcholinesterase reactivators (oximes), which appear as weak inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). In our study we investigated and compared the toxicity of five reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, two of them non ionic (tacrine and 7-MEOTA) and three ionic (berberine chloride, 1-methyltacridium iodide and ethidium bromide). Tests were carried out according to the methodology described in the standard EN ISO 6341. EC50 values as well as dose-response curves were calculated for all tested inhibitors. In general, non ionic substances were found to be less toxic than ionic substances. Estimated EC50 values in tests taking respectively 24 h and 48 h were as follows: tacrine 3000 resp. 1515 μg.l-1, 7-MEOTA 3606 resp. 707.2 μg.l-1, berberine chloride 903.6 resp. 822.4 μg.l-1, 1-methylacridinium iodide 714.3 resp. 233.5 μg.l-1 and ethidium bromide 644.3 resp. 291.1 μg.l-1. The higher toxicity of 7-MEOTA in time compared to tacrine and the similar toxicity of berberine chloride in both tests are explained as a consequence of their metabolism in the daphnid's body.

Keywords: antidotes; cholinesterase; crustacean; inhibition; tacrine; toxicity

Received: November 1, 2005; Revised: January 3, 2006; Published: July 31, 2006  Show citation

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Veselá Š, Ondruška V, Kuča K, Patočka J. Freshwater microcrustacean Daphnia magna Straus as an early screen model to compare toxicity of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. J Appl Biomed. 2006;4(2):105-110. doi: 10.32725/jab.2006.010.
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