Toxicity of binary mixtures of oil fractions to sea urchin embryos

The assumption of additive toxicity for oil compounds is related to a narcotic mode of action. However, the joint toxicity of oil fractions has not been fully investigated. A fractionation of Maya crude oil into aliphatics, aromatics and polars was performed, fractions were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and subsequently toxicity of single fractions and binary mixtures was assessed using the sea urchin embryo test. The descriptive ability of Concentration Addition (CA), Independent Action (IA) and modifications of both models for describing the joint toxicity of mixtures has also been evaluated. The hydrocarbon content extractable with dichloromethane of the fractions dissolved in DMSO was: 12.0 ± 1.8 mg mL−1, 39.0 ± 0.5 mg mL−1 and 20.5 ± 2.5 mg mL−1 for aliphatics, aromatics and polars, respectively. The toxicity of the extracts in DMSO of the fractions as EC50 (μL L−1) was: aliphatics (165.8-242.3) < polars (87.1-115.7) < aromatics (20.5-34.6). The goodness of fit of the CA model was in most binary mixtures (aliphatics-aromatics, aromatics-polars) greater than the IA (aliphatics-polars) according to the Akaike Information Criterion, so CA was considered a better option than IA to explain the joint toxicity of oil fractions. In addition, synergistic or antagonistic effects were not observed.