ISSN:
0268-2605
Keywords:
antimony
;
accumulation
;
excretion
;
Chlorella vulgaris
;
freshwater alga
;
association mode
;
Chemistry
;
Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
The bioaccumulation and excretion of antimony by the freshwater alga Chlorella vulgaris, which had been isolated from an arsenic-polluted environment, are described. When this alga was cultured in a medium containing 50 μg cm-3 of antimony(III) for 14 days, it was found that Chlorella vulgaris bioaccumulated antimony at concentrations up to 12 000 μg Sb g-1 dry wt after six days' incubation. The antimony concentration in Chlorella vulgaris decreased from 2570 to 1610 μg Sb g-1 dry wt after the cells were transferred to an antimony-free medium. We found that the excreted antimony consists of 40% antimony(V) and 60% antimony(III). This means that the highly toxic antimony(III) was converted to the less toxic antimony (V) by the living organism.Antimony accumulated in living Chlorella vulgaris cells was solvent-fractionated with chloroform/methanol (2:1), and the extract residue was fractionated with 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Gel-filtration chromatography of the solubilized part showed that antimony was combined with proteins whose molecular weight was around 4×104 in the antimony-accumulated living cells. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Additional Material:
3 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
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