%0 Journal Article
%T Reduced Life Expectancy Model for Effects of Long Term Exposure on Lethal Toxicity with Fish
%A Vibha Verma
%A Qiming J. Yu
%A Des W. Connell
%J ISRN Toxicology
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/230763
%X A model based on the concept of reduction in life expectancy (RLE model) as a result of long term exposure to toxicant has been developed which has normal life expectancy (NLT) as a fixed limiting point for a species. The model is based on the equation (LC50 = a£¿ln(LT50) + b) where a and b are constants. It was evaluated by plotting ln£¿LT50 against LC50 with data on organic toxicants obtained from the scientific literature. Linear relationships between LC50 and ln£¿LT50 were obtained and a Calculated NLT was derived from the plots. The Calculated NLT obtained was in good agreement with the Reported NLT obtained from the literature. Estimation of toxicity at any exposure time and concentration is possible using the model. The use of NLT as a reference point is important since it provides a data point independent of the toxicity data set and limits the data to the range where toxicity occurs. This novel approach, which represents a departure from Haber's rule, can be used to estimate long term toxicity from limited available acute toxicity data for fish exposed to organic biocides. 1. Introduction Toxicity is a function of both exposure time period and concentration or dose [1¨C4]. Nevertheless most of the toxicological data are based on the quantitative relationship between concentration or dose and adverse effect without consideration of the exposure time period [5¨C7]. Often imprecise terms such as acute, subacute, subchronic, and chronic are used to describe the exposure time [8]. It is not common to evaluate time as a quantifiable variable of toxicity and often the conditions of toxicity testing are not constant so time cannot be effectively quantified [9]. However there have been studies where exposure time has been evaluated as a quantifiable variable of toxicity [7, 10¨C12] and the relationship between exposure time and dose has been evaluated [6, 13¨C16]. But in these studies the exposure time is relatively short. While studies based on longer exposure time are important, particularly in the field of risk assessment with environmental contaminants where the exposure time is relatively long and the exposure level is often low. Information regarding the long term effects of exposure time with environmental chemicals is scarce [17]. The significance of exposure time in toxicological evaluations was first recognised by Warren [18] describing a relationship between exposure time ( ) and exposure concentration as the lethal dose to 50% of organisms ( ). In this equation is a threshold concentration below which no apparent toxic effects are observed and is a
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.toxicology/2013/230763/