SynopsisThis review ofPhotobacteriumphosphoreum toxicity bioassay, commonly known as the Microtox'" tests, consists of two parts. The first part, I. Test Procedures and Applications, is a selective literature review which describes the principle, methodology, experimental conditions and procedures, and the applications of the Microtox'" test. It includes a list of relevant references and tables showingcomparisons of Microtox test results with those of various other acute toxicity assays for selected compounds and complex industrial eflluents. The second part of this review deals with toxicity data compilation.

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This review of Photobacterium phosphoreum toxicity bioassay, commonly known as the Microtox tests, consists of two parts. This second part (Toxicity Data Compilation) is a listing of all published and certain unpublished Microtox toxicity data for single organic compounds, including some salts and organometallic compounds. This listing consists of three tables: the first provides the reference source, toxicity value(s), chemical formula, name, the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) accession numbers, and molecular weight of each compound. At present, this table contains approximately 500 entries, which are ordered by the compounds' molecular formula. Two additional tables, ordered accordingly, are intended to provide quick access through cross‐references with the CAS and RTECS numbers, respectively.

The toxic effect of single organic contaminants to aquatic biota is relatively easy to assess using classic aquatic toxicity bioassays. Unfortunately, contaminants are present in the aquatic environment in mixtures of unknown composition. Moreover, antagonistic and synergistic interactions make the prediction of the real environmental hazard posed by organic contaminants more complicated. A mathematical algorithm has been developed to predict the toxicity of mixtures of organic contaminants to aquatic biota using toxicity data for the individual components of the mixture. The MicrotoxQ toxicity bioassay was used to obtain the toxicity data for a set of chlorinated phenols that were used as test compounds to validate the model. The unique characteristics of the Microtox bioassay make it a perfect tool to confirm experimentally the ability of the model to estimate the combined toxic effect of mixtures of organic contaminants.

This article presents results and conclusions obtained from the interlaboratory comparison studies of the luminescent bacteria toxicity assay performed during three consecutive years. This assay is one of the recommended bioassays used in the current Spanish and Catalonian regulations for toxicity assessment of industrial discharges. It is used routinely to assess the level of contamination of industrial wastewaters, and to calculate a levy related to volume and contaminant load of industrial wastewater discharges. The objective of these exercises was to evaluate the repeatability of results obtained using this bioassay when used to assess toxicity of diverse wastewaters. Differences in bacterial sensitivity toward chemical substances, storage conditions, reagents, and sample handling, and minute differences in test procedure, may result in increased deviations when testing identical samples in different laboratories. A discussion on experimental conditions and test variables that may affect variability of results of this bioassay is provided. Studies were performed yearly from 1993 to 1995, using four series of five samples in each exercise. Samples tested included standard solutions of pure compounds, and effluents collected either from industrial or municipal discharges. The number of participants increased steadily (11 in 1993, 19 in 1994, 24 in 1995), which indicates increasing awareness of private and public laboratories in this type of quality assurance exercise. Overall, the relative standard deviations were respectively 48.8, 42.2, and 35.5%, which indicates not only a better knowledge of the nature of the assay, but also a trend of improvement in experimental procedures and quality assurance programs within each laboratory. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol Water Qual 12: 283–294, 1997