Potential and realized bioconcentration. A comparison of observed and predicted bioconcentration of azaarenes in the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas)

The actual bioconcentration of the nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic azaarenes, some of which are carcinogenic, by the fathead minnow has been compared with predictions based on octanol/water partitioning and with measures of their bioconcentration in Daphnia pulex. The results indicate that lipophilicity plays a greater role in determining the bioconcentration in Daphnia than it does in the fish. Thus the bioconcentration observed in the minnows was found to be about 1000-fold lower than the predicted values or those observed in Daphnia. Metabolic alterations to azaarenes in fish are fast enough to play a large role in determining bioconcentration of organic compounds.