Detecting harmful bioactive compounds produced by bloom-forming pelagic algae is important to assess potential risks to public health. We investigated the application of a cell-based bioassay: the rainbow trout gill-w1 cytotoxicity assay (RCA) that detects changes in cell metabolism. The RCA was used to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of (1) six natural freshwater lake samples from cyanobacteria...

BACKGROUND We are developing cell-based assays to identify anticancer agents that are selectively toxic to cells with defined mutations. As a test, we used a three-stage strategy to screen compounds from the National Cancer Institute's repository for agents that are selectively toxic to double-strand break repair-deficient yeast cells. METHODS Compounds identified in the screen were further a...

A number of toxic synthetic organic compounds can contaminate environmental soil through either local (e.g., industrial) or diffuse (e.g., agricultural) contamination. Increased levels of these toxic organic compounds in the environment have been associated with human health risks including cancer. Plant-associated bacteria, such as endophytic bacteria (non-pathogenic bacteria that occur natura...

Enormous quantities of organic and inorganic compounds are released into the environment each year as a result of human activities. In some cases, these releases are deliberate and well regulated (e.g., industrial emissions) while in other cases they are accidental (e.g., chemical or oil spills). Many of these compounds are both toxic and persistent in terrestrial and aquatic environments. The ...

The effects of sorption processes on dynamic ETS organic gas concentrations and potential exposures were studied in a carpeted and furnished 50-m room ventilated at 0.6 h. Ten cigarettes were machine-smoked on six of every seven days over four weeks. Concentrations of ETS-specific tracers and regulated toxic compounds were quantified during daily smoking, post-smoking and background periods. Po...

Investigations on the relationship of toxicities between species play an important role in the understanding of toxic mechanisms to environmental organisms. In this paper, the toxicity data of 949 chemicals to fish and 1470 chemicals to V. fischeri were used to investigate the modes of action (MOAs) between species. The results show that although there is a positive interspecies correlation, th...