Toxicity studies on the components of an oil-spill emulsifier usingLichina pygmaeaandXanthoria parietina
✍ Scribed by D. H. Brown
- Book ID
- 104733288
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Year
- 1973
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 692 KB
- Volume
- 18
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0025-3162
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✦ Synopsis
Previous work on lichens suggested that the toxic component of the oil-spill emulsifier BP 1002 might be the surfactant rather than the solvent, to which toxicity is usually attributed. The effect of the emulsifier on both Lichina pygmaea and Xanthoria 2~arietina (measured by reduced total photosvnthetio 14C-fixation and enhanced loss of labelled material from the lichen) was shown to be mainly due to Surfactant B (coconut fatty diethanolamide) altering the permeability of the algal cell membranes. Surfactant A (nonylphenol ethylene oxide condensate) was less inhibitory but, by comparison with the response of free-living algae to the emulsifier, induced both leakiness and lysis of the blue-green algal cells in L. pygmaea. Pure solvent slightly reduced total 14C-fixation without altering the pattern of zdC-fixation. Observations on pigment removal showed the solvent to be capable of removing only the extra-cellular pigment parietin; Surfactant B induced loss of lipid-and water-soluble intracellular pigments.