Full life-cycle toxicity assessment on triclosan using rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus

• The toxicity of triclosan (TCS) toward rotifer, B. calyciflorus, was assessed.
• The 24-h LC50 value of TCS was 345 µg/L.
• Above 1.0 µg/L TCS reduced the population growth of rotifer.
• TCS exposure affected hatching rate of resting egg.

Triclosan (TCS) is an antimicrobial and is an aquatic contaminant. Little is known on aquatic toxicity of TCS. Rotifers are common members of freshwater zooplankton. In this study, Brachionus calyciflorus was chosen as a test organism to assess the acute and complete life cycle toxicity of TCS in this study. The acute toxicity results showed that the 24-h median lethal concentration (LC50) of TCS was 345±0.11 μg/L (95% confidence limits of 212–564 µg/L). Reproductive bioassays demonstrated that TCS could inhibit the population growth rate at the concentration higher than 1.0 μg/L. Resting egg production encompasses the full life-cycle of rotifer, and thus its hatching rate were explored to assess the toxicity of TCS towards rotifer population at TCS concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 200 µg/L at two different growth periods. When resting eggs were exposed to TCS during the formation period, 0.1 and 1.0 µg/L of TCS increased the hatching rate from 0.402 to 0.502, and 0.475, respectively. Exposure to 100 and 200 µg/L of TCS reduced the hatching rate to 0.309 and 0.275, respectively. When the resting eggs were formed in the control medium and hatched in medium with TCS, their hatching rates were not significantly influenced by TCS, except that 200 µg/L of TCS decreased the hatching rate from 0.402 to 0.34 significantly. The effects of TCS exposure on the hatching rate during the formation period were greater than those during the resting egg hatching period.