Joint toxicity of chlorpyrifos, atrazine, and cadmium at lethal concentrations to the earthworm Eisenia fetida

Contaminants in the environment often occur as complex mixtures, and their combined effect may exhibit toxicity to organisms. Risk assessments based on individual components tend to underestimate the effects associated with toxic action of mixtures. Toxicity studies on chemical mixtures are urgently required to assess their potential combined toxicities. The combination index (CI)-isobologram method was used to study chemical interactions to determine the nature of toxicological interactions of two pesticides chlorpyrifos and atrazine and a heavy metal cadmium toward earthworm Eisenia fetida by artificial soil and filter paper acute toxicity tests. The results showed that the binary mixture of chlorpyrifos and atrazine was antagonistic toward Eisenia fetida at all f(a) levels in an artificial soil test. The combination of atrazine and Cd exhibited a slight degree of synergism throughout the exposure range, while chlorpyrifos plus Cd combination led to dual antagonistic/synergistic behavior. The nature of binary combinations in filter paper displayed opposite interaction to that in the artificial soil test, and the toxicity of ternary mixtures was not significantly synergistic than their binaries. The combination index (CI)-isobologram equation method could determine the interaction types for a series of effect levels of three chemicals in binary and ternary combinations in two types of acute earthworm tests. However, the nature of these interactions was not uniform along the f(a) level range in any of the two tests. Bioavailability, the nature of toxicological interaction, and the test organism need to be considered for understanding exposures and chemical measures. The synergistic effect for the particular binary combination suggests that a potential risk associated with the co-occurrence of these pollutants may still exist, which may have implications in risk assessment for the terrestrial environment. The combined effects between different contaminants might be influenced by the category of chemical, as well as the bioassay procedures. More studies of combined toxicities among these contaminants in the terrestrial environment should be conducted to identify the mixtures exhibiting synergistic pattern of interactions.