By-products from a bauxite manufacturing plant located in Seydişehir, Turkey, were investigated for their composition and any toxicity to sea urchin embryogenesis. Samples from three other bauxite plants located in France, Greece, and Italy were simultaneously tested for toxicity in sea urchin embryos. Samples included sludge and solid residues in the plant and sediment and water columns from two holding ponds (red sludge or cryolite residues). Samples were analyzed for their inorganic content by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Analyses were carried out either following strong acid extraction or after release of soluble components from seawater-suspended pellets. Toxicity was tested by sea urchin bioassays, to evaluate the following endpoints: (a) acute and/or developmental toxicity, (b) changes in fertilization success, and (c) transmissible damage from sperm to offspring. The results revealed the following: (1) inorganic analysis, following strong acid extraction, showed a prevalence of Al and Fe; (2) seawater release of soluble contaminants was confined to Fe and Mn, whereas Al levels were not changed by suspending increasing sample amounts in seawater; (3) the most severe toxicity to sea urchin embryos was exerted by a 2% water column from the red sludge holding pond and by soil and sludge collected near the plant reactor; (4) sludge supernatant was the most toxic sample to sperm and offspring. The data showed a prevailing association of free Fe (and possibly Mn) levels with Seydişehir sample toxicity. The water column of the red sludge holding pond showed both excess levels of free Al and high pH, thus suggesting a combined effect. The differences in sample toxicity in the Seydişehir plant compared with other bauxite manufacturing plants suggest a possible variable toxicity as related to bauxite ore composition and/or manufacturing processes.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/eesa.2001.2114 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Efficient and Stable Extraction of Nano-Sized Plastic Particles Enabled by Bio-inspired Magnetic "Robots" in Water.
Environ Pollut
December 2024
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, Institute of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
In this research, a rationally-designed strategy was employed to address the crucial issue of removing nano-plastics (NPs) from aquatic environments, which was based on fabricating sea urchin-like structures of FeO magnetic robots (MagRobots). Through imitating the sea urchin's telescopic tube foot movement and predation mechanism, the unique structures of the MagRobots were designed to adapt to the size and surface interactions of NPs, leading to a high efficiency of NPs removal (99%), as evidenced by the superior performance of 594.3 mg/g for the removal of polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles from water, with 3300% increase over magnetic FeO without structural design.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA mechanosensitive circuit of FAK, ROCK, and ERK controls biomineral growth and morphology in the sea urchin embryo.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Marine Biology, Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
Biomineralization is the utilization of different minerals by a vast array of organisms to form hard tissues and shape them in various forms. Within this diversity, a common feature of all mineralized tissues is their high stiffness, implying that mechanosensing could be commonly used in biomineralization. Yet, the role of mechanosensing in biomineralization is far from clear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInteraction of Liposomes Containing the Carrageenan/Echinochrome Complex with Human HaCaT Keratinocytes In Vitro.
Mar Drugs
December 2024
G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia.
Liposomal drug delivery systems are successfully used in various fields of medicine for external and systemic applications. Marine organisms contain biologically active substances that have a unique structure and exhibit a wide range of biological activities. Polysaccharide of red seaweed (carrageenan (CRG)), and water-insoluble sea urchin pigment (echinochrome (Ech)) interact with each other and form a stable complex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbalones at risk: A global Red List assessment of Haliotis in a changing climate.
PLoS One
December 2024
Bodega Marine Laboratory, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and University of California Davis, Bodega Bay, California, United States of America.
There is increasing awareness that marine invertebrates such as abalones are at risk from the combined stressors of fishing and climate change. Abalones are an important marine fishery resource and of cultural importance to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. A highly priced marine delicacy, they are inherently vulnerable: individuals are slow-growing and long-lived and successful reproduction requires dense assemblages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evolutionary modifications of a GoLoco motif in the AGS protein facilitate micromere formation in the sea urchin embryo.
Elife
December 2024
Department of Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology, Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, United States.
The evolutionary introduction of asymmetric cell division (ACD) into the developmental program facilitates the formation of a new cell type, contributing to developmental diversity and, eventually, species diversification. The micromere of the sea urchin embryo may serve as one of those examples: an ACD at the 16-cell stage forms micromeres unique to echinoids among echinoderms. We previously reported that a polarity factor, activator of G-protein signaling (AGS), plays a crucial role in micromere formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!