A review of toxicity testing protocols and endpoints with Artemia spp

Artemia spp. is an historically popular biological model still requiring an official internationally basedstandardization. Several endpoints are currently available. Short-term acute endpoints include biomarker(acetylcholinesterase; heat stress proteins; lipid peroxidation; thiobarbituric acid reactive substances;thioredoxin reductase; glutathione-peroxidase; glutathione S-transferase; glutathione reductase; alde-hyde dehydrogenase; and adenylpyrophosphatase and Fluotox), hatching (dry biomass, morphologicaldisorders and size), behavioral (swimming speed and path length), teratogenicity (growth), and immo-bilization (meaning mortality after 5–30 s observation). Long-term chronic tests focus on growth,reproduction and survival or mortality after 7–28 d exposure from larval to adulthood stage. We analyzedeach test looking at its endpoint, toxicant and experimental design including replicates, exposure time,number of exposed cysts or organisms and their relative life stage, exposure conditions during hatch-ing and testing (salinity, pH, light intensity, aeration dilution media, and food supply), type of testingchambers, and quality assurance and quality control criteria. Similarities and differences between theidentified approaches were highlighted. Results evidenced that hatching 24 h short-term and 14 d long-term mortality are the most promising Artemia spp. protocols that should go forward with internationalstandardization.