Badania toksyczności metali ciężkich w aspekcie oceny bezpieczeństwa użytkowania produktów włókienniczych

The results of investigations on the adaptation of a bioindicative assay based on ciliate sp. to detect harmful chemical substances in water solutions are presented. The experiment was carried out to assess the toxicity of heavy metals relative to the the Tetrahymena pyriformis culture used as the bioindicator. The culture was added to water solutions of heavy metals (As, Cd, Ni, Pb, Hg) and incubated at 28°C for 24 hours. Changes in the test organisms’ proliferation were assessed on the basis of microscope observations and direct readings of optical density, measured at 330 nm after 4, 6, 8 and 24 hours using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The experiments revealed different toxicity levels of the metals analysed; the method under consideration enables very small amounts of toxicity to be detected in water solutions or extracts.