Comparison of toxicity effects of fuel oil treated by different dispersants on marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) embryo

This study aims to evaluate the subacute toxic effects of oil under different treatments on marine organism by simulating natural contaminative processes. In this study, 120# (RMD15) fuel oil was selected as the pollutant and marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) embryos as the experimental organism. The developmental toxicity of different volume concentrations (0.05%, 0.2%, 1% and 5%) of water-accommodated fractions, biologicallyenhanced water-accommodated fractions, and chemically-enhanced water-accommodated fractions on the embryos in different exposure time (8, 15 and 22 d) were compared and the content of relevant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was studied (in dispersion and in vivo). The subacute toxic effects were assessed in terms of antioxidant activities of enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione S-transferase) and the blue sac disease (BSD) indexes.The results showed that the BSD indexes of the treatment groups were significantly higher than the respective control groups and showed positive correlations with both concentration and exposure time. The experiments with three antioxidant enzymes indicated that enzymatic activities of the embryos changed dramatically under the oxidation stress of petroleum hydrocarbons, especially after adding the dispersants. With the increase of petroleum hydrocarbon concentration and exposure time, the three enzymes showed different degrees of induction and inhibition effects.