Toxicity bioassays with concentrated cell culture media—a methodology to overcome the chemical loss by conventional preparation of water samples

The use of in vitro bioassays for studies of toxic activity in environmental water samples is a rapidly expanding field of research. Cell-based bioassays can assess the total toxicity exerted by a water sample, regardless whether the toxicity is caused by a known or unknown agent or by a complex mixture of different agents. When using bioassays for environmental water samples, it is often necessary to concentrate the water samples before applying the sample. Commonly, water samples are concentrated 10–50 times. However, there is always a risk of losing compounds in the sample in such sample preparation. We have developed an alternative experimental design by preparing a concentrated cell culture medium which was then diluted in the environmental water sample to compose the final cell culture media for the in vitro assays. Water samples from five Swedish waste water treatment plants were analyzed for oxidative stress response, estrogen receptor (ER), and aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activity using this experimental design. We were able to detect responses equivalent to 8.8–11.3 ng/L TCCD for AhR activity and 0.4–0.9 ng/L 17β-estradiol for ER activity. We were unable to detect oxidative stress response in any of the studied water samples. In conclusion, we have developed an experimental design allowing us to examine environmental water samples in toxicity in vitro assays at a concentration factor close to 1, without the risk of losing known or unknown compounds during an extraction procedure. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11356-018-1656-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.