Cultured fish cells for the ecotoxicity testing of aquatic pollutants

Abstract The volume of chemicals in everyday use that require ecotoxicity testing, the high‐costs of using whole animals for initial screenings of chemicals for their cyto‐ and genotoxicities, and the need for a ‚biological early warning signal”︁ to detect toxicants in aquatic environments have prompted the development of many microbial‐based in vitro short‐term bioassays. An area that has received relatively little study is the application of vertebrate cells, especially fish cells, for ecotoxicity testing of chemicals. From the few studies that are available it has been demonstrated that cultured, established fish cell lines can be used for (1) the in vitro cyto‐ and genotoxicity screening of known aquatic pollutants, (2) the in situ monitoring of natural waters and sediments for chemical cyto‐ and genotoxicants, and (c) elucidating structure‐activity relationships among chemicals, which can thereby serve as a biological adjunct to computer‐based mathematical predictions (QSARs) of chemical cyto‐ and genotoxicity.