A sperm cell toxicity test procedure for the Mediterranean species Paracentrotus lividus (Echinodermata : Echinoidea)

This work describes the procedure developed in our laboratories for perform ing sperm cell toxicity tests using the autochthonous North Adriatic sea ur chin Paracentrotus lividus Lmk. The procedure, derived from Dinnel (1987), was developed following the auto-ecological characteristics of P. lividus a nd in harmony with US Environmental Protection Agency standard procedures. Experiments conducted. over a four-year period using copper as reference to xicant allowed the evaluation of method precision and intralaboratory repro ducibility by different operators using organisms from different batches, i n changing spatial (sampling sites) and temporal conditions (EC50 0.055 mg l(-1) +/- 0.0081 SD; CV = 14.7%; n = 25). These experiments with copper pro vided EC50 and NOEC data (0.032 +/- 0.008 mg l(-1)). Results demonstrated t he reliability of the method, as compared to other oceanic sea urchin speci es.