Cyanobacterial bloom dynamics in Lake Taihu

Lake Taihu is the third largest freshwater lake in China and serves as an important drinking water source for the local populace;however,decades of excessive nutrient loading fueled by anthropogenic activities have resulted in hypertrophic conditions,promoting the annual formation of nuisance phytoplankton blooms（Chen et al.,2003;Duan et al.,2009）

Comparative cytotoxicity of fourteen trivalent and pentavalent arsenic species determined using real-time cell sensing

The occurrence of a large number of diverse arsenic species in the environment and in biological systems makes it important to compare their relative toxicity. The toxicity of arsenic species has been examined in various cell lines using different assays, making comparison difficult. We report real-time cell sensing of two human cell lines to examine the cytotoxicity of fourteen arsenic species： arsenite（As~Ⅲ）, monomethylarsonous acid（MMA~Ⅲ） originating from the oxide and iodide forms, dimethylarsinous acid（DMA~Ⅲ）, dimethylarsinic glutathione（DMAG~Ⅲ）, phenylarsine oxide（PAO~Ⅲ）, arsenate（AsV）, monomethylarsonic acid（MMA~Ⅴ）, dimethylarsinic acid（DMA~Ⅴ）,monomethyltrithioarsonate（MMTTA~Ⅴ）, dimethylmonothioarsinate（DMMTA~Ⅴ）,dimethyldithioarsinate（DMDTA~Ⅴ）, 3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid（Roxarsone, Rox）,and 4-aminobenzenearsenic acid（p-arsanilic acid, p-ASA）. Cellular responses were measured in real time for 72 hr in human lung（A549） and bladder（T24） cells. IC50 values for the arsenicals were determined continuously over the exposure time, giving rise to IC50 histograms and unique cell response profiles. Arsenic accumulation and speciation were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry（ICP-MS）. On the basis of the 24-hr IC50 values, the relative cytotoxicity of the tested arsenicals was in the following decreasing order： PAO~Ⅲ？ MMA~Ⅲ≥ DMA~Ⅲ≥ DMAG~Ⅲ≈ DMMTA~Ⅴ≥ As~Ⅲ？ MMTTA~Ⅴ〉 AsV〉 DMDTA~Ⅴ〉DMA~Ⅴ〉 MMA~Ⅴ≥ Rox ≥ p-ASA. Stepwise shapes of cell response profiles for DMA~Ⅲ, DMAG~Ⅲ,and DMMTA~Ⅴcoincided with the conversion of these arsenicals to the less toxic pentavalent DMA~Ⅴ. Dynamic monitoring of real-time cellular responses to fourteen arsenicals provided useful information for comparison of their relative cytotoxicity.

“Waste”-ing away:Presence of Cu ions influences microbial degradation kinetics and metabolite formation of the prevalent brominated flame retardant BDE-47

Have you ever wondered what happened to that old cell phone you threw out last month?How about the 150 million other cell phones that were also disposed of in the past year?Although the world population has doubled in the past 50 years,global consumption of electronic devices has increased six fold(Belkhir and Elmeligi,2018)with nearly 45 million tonnes of electronic waste(e-waste)being produced in 2016 alone(Balde et al.,2017).That equates to 6.1 kg of e-waste per person across the globe and is equivalent in weight to over four thousand Eiffel towers(Balde et al.,2017)!

Formation of water disinfection byproduct 2,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone from chlorination of green algae

We report that green algae in lakes and rivers can serve as precursors of halobenzoquinone（HBQ） disinfection byproducts（DBPs） produced during chlorination. Chlorination of a common green alga, Chlorella vulgaris, produced 2,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone（2,6-DCBQ）, the most prevalent HBQ DBP in disinfected water. Under varying p H conditions（p H 6.0–9.0）, 2,6-DCBQ formation ranged from 0.3 to 2.1 μg/mg C with maximum formation at p H 8.0. To evaluate the contribution of organic components of C. vulgaris to 2,6-DCBQ formation, we separated the organics into two fractions, the protein-rich fraction of intracellular organic matter（IOM） and the polysaccharide-laden fraction of extracellular organic matter（EOM）. Chlorination of IOM and EOM produced 1.4 μg/mg C and 0.7 μg/mg C of 2,6-DCBQ, respectively. The IOM generated a two-fold higher 2,6-DCBQ formation potential than the EOM fraction, suggesting that proteins are potent 2,6-DCBQ precursors. This was confirmed by the chlorination of proteins extracted from C. vulgaris： the amount of 2,6-DCBQ produced is linearly correlated with the concentration of total algal protein（R2= 0.98）. These results support that proteins are the primary precursors of 2,6-DCBQ in algae, and control of green algal bloom outbreaks in source waters is important for management of HBQ DBPs.

Effects of halobenzoquinone and haloacetic acid water disinfection byproducts on human neural stem cells

Human neural stem cells（h NSCs） are a useful tool to assess the developmental effects of various environmental contaminants; however, the application of h NSCs to evaluate water disinfection byproducts（DBPs） is scarce. Comprehensive toxicological results are essential to the prioritization of DBPs for further testing and regulation. Therefore, this study examines the effects of DBPs on the proliferation and differentiation of h NSCs. Prior to DBP treatment, characteristic protein markers of h NSCs from passages 3 to 6 were carefully examined and it was determined that h NSCs passaged 3 or 4 times maintained stem cell characteristics and can be used for DBP analysis. Two regulated DBPs, monobromoacetic acid（BAA） and monochloroacetic acid（CAA）, and two emerging DBPs, 2,6-dibromo-1,4-benzoquinone（2,6-DBBQ） and 2,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone（2,6-DCBQ）, were chosen for h NSC treatment. Both 2,6-DBBQ and 2,6-DCBQ induced cell cycle arrest at S-phase at concentrations up to 1 μmol/L. Comparatively, BAA and CAA at 0.5 μmol/L affected neural differentiation. These results suggest DBP-dependent effects on h NSC proliferation and differentiation. The DBP-induced cell cycle arrest and inhibition of normal h NSC differentiation demonstrate the need to assess the developmental neurotoxicity of DBPs.