PUBLICATION

Comparative analytical and toxicological assessment of methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) mixtures associated with the Elk River chemical spill

Authors
Horzmann, K.A., de Perre, C., Lee, L.S., Whelton, A.J., Freeman, J.L.
ID
ZDB-PUB-170917-1
Date
2017
Source
Chemosphere   188: 599-607 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Freeman, Jennifer
Keywords
Elk River, GC/MS, MCHM, Methylcyclohexanemethanol, Toxicology, Zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Chemical Hazard Release*
  • Cyclohexanes/analysis
  • Cyclohexanes/toxicity*
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Phenyl Ethers
  • Rivers/chemistry*
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis*
  • Water Supply/standards
  • West Virginia
  • Zebrafish/embryology
PubMed
28917212 Full text @ Chemosphere
Abstract
On January 9, 2014, a chemical mixture containing crude methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) contaminated the water supply of Charleston, West Virginia. Although the mixture was later identified as a mix of crude MCHM and stripped propylene glycol phenyl ethers, initial risk assessment focused on 4-MCHM, the predominant component of crude MCHM. The mixture's exact composition and the toxicity differences between 4-MCHM, crude MCHM, and the tank mixture were unknown. We analyzed the chemical composition of crude MCHM and the tank mixture via GC/MS and, based on identified spectra, found that crude MCHM and the tank mixture differed in chemical composition. To evaluate acute developmental toxicity, zebrafish embryos were exposed to 0, 1, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, or 100 parts per million (ppm; mg/L) of 4-MCHM, crude MCHM, or the tank mixture. The percent mortality and percent hatch, larval morphology alterations, and larval visual motor response test were used to establish toxicity profiles for each of the chemicals or mixtures. The acute toxicity differed between 4-MCHM, crude MCHM and the tank mixture with significant differences in survival, hatching, morphology, and locomotion at levels as low as the short-term screening level of 1 ppm, suggesting a need for further research into human health risks. This study is the first to evaluate the developmental toxicity of the tank mixture and highlights that studies evaluating risk should not assume the effects of 4-MCHM or crude MCHM are representative of the Tank 396 mixture.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping