QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS FOR THE TOXICITY OF NITROBENZENES TO TETRAHYMENA THERMOPHILA

摘要

Protozoa play an important ecological role in microbial food chains, regeneration of nutrients, regulation of bacterial populations and the self--purification of natural aquatic environment. Among the protozoa, those most frequently used in research on ecotoxicology are the ciliates (1). Tetrahymena thermophila is a common freshwater ciliate. Tetrahymena is widely distributed in nature and is an index of health aquatic environment (2). It can be cultured in the laboratory free of bacteria and in defined, protein--free medium.