Gene expression profiling to characterize sediment toxicity – a pilot study using Caenorhabditis elegans whole genome microarrays

Table 2 Whole sediment toxicity (reproduction tests with Caenorhabditis elegans), genotoxicity in pore water (Comet assay), and estrogenic activity in pore water (YES = yeast estrogen screen).

	Control	Danube	Rhine	Elbe
Toxicity test ^a
reproduction	133.7 ± 21.7	90.8 ± 13.4	58.9 ± 16.4	69.3 ± 17.8
% inhibition	0	32.1	55.9**	48.1**
Comet Assay ^b
25% pore water	7.64 ± 1.06	8.72 ± 0.63	9.28 ± 1.05	10.86 ± 0.54
50% pore water	7.06 ± 0.43	11.59 ± 1.84	13.50 ± 0.80*	13.50 ± 0.80*
YES test ^c
EEQ [ng/L]	^-	9.0 ± 2.26	18.8 ± 5.33	31.6 ± 11.6***

^a The toxicity test is based on the mean of four replicate experiments
^b % tail DNA (% vitality) was calculated of 100 randomly selected nuclei on two replicate slides;
^c EEQ values were calculated from three independent experiments (performed using 50% pore water), each consisting of three replicates;
* Significantly different to the negative control (p < 0.05);
** Significantly different to the negative control (p < 0.01);
*** Significantly different to the Danube sample (p < 0.05).

ISSN: 1471-2164