Abstract
Lactic and formic acid are two commonly found monocarboxylic organic acids. Lactic acid is discharged into the water bodies as acidic industrial effluent from the food, cosmetic, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, whereas formic acid is discharged from various paper, leather tanning, and textile processing industries. The present study investigated the toxicity of both organic acids upon the benthic oligochaete worm Tubifex tubifex. The 96-h median lethal concentration (LC50) values for lactic and formic acid are determined as 143.81 mg/l and 57.99 mg/l respectively. The effects of two sublethal concentrations (10% and 30% of 96 h LC50) of these acids on differential expression of oxidative stress enzymes are investigated. The comparative analysis of acute toxicity demonstrates that formic acid exposure is more detrimental to T. tubifex than lactic acid. The in silico structural analysis predicts that formic acid can interact with cytochrome c oxidase of the electron transport system and thereby inhibits its functionality and induces reactive oxygen species production. Integrated biomarker response (IBR) analysis illustrates that overall oxidative stress of formic acid to T. tubifex is significantly higher than that of lactic acid, which supports the structural analysis. It is concluded from this study that toxicokinetic–toxicodynamic and species sensitivity distributions studies are helpful for ecological risk management of environmental toxicants.
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We are thankful to the Department of Zoology, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India, for providing the infrastructural facilities and necessary financial support.
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Pramita Garai: Conception or design of the work; Material preparation; data collection; analysis and writing of the first draft of the manuscript.
Priyajit Banerjee: Conception or design of the work; Material preparation; data collection; analysis and writing.
Pramita Sharma: Conception or design of the work; Material preparation; data collection; analysis.
Arnab Chatterjee: Conception or design of the work; Material preparation; data collection; analysis.
Ritwick Bhattacharya: Conception or design of the work; Material preparation; data collection; analysis.
Nimai Chandra Saha: Conception or design of the work; Material preparation; data collection; analysis; supervision.
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Garai, P., Banerjee, P., Sharma, P. et al. Mechanistic insights to lactic and formic acid toxicity on benthic oligochaete worm Tubifex tubifex. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 87319–87333 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21361-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21361-0