Sub-lethal effects of acetone on Daphnia magna

There is increasing concern about the sub-lethal effect of hydrophobic chemicals in the water medium. Even though acetone is a commonly used solvent in toxicity testing, few studies have focussed on its chronic toxicity to Daphnia magna and the available results are often contradictory. In this study, acetone was tested on D. magna in a 21-day exposure experiment and the effects on mortality, fertility and morphology of exposed organisms (F₀) and offspring (F₁–F₂, reared without acetone) were evaluated. No significant reduction of survival was observed with increasing concentrations, and no significant reduction in fecundity in any treatment group in terms of average number of daphnids per mother was observed. Abnormal development of second antennae was observed on F₁ from F₀ exposed to 79 mg l⁻¹ solvent. The ET50 of acetone on the number of mothers that produced deformed offspring over time was 12.5 days. Our results suggest that the acetone concentration should not exceed 7.9 mg l⁻¹, which is 10 times less than the allowed concentration as determined by OECD chronic assays on D. magna. More attention should be paid to small, water-soluble molecules usually considered of low concern for chronic toxicity because they might affect other metabolic pathways.