An approach to predicting the bioconcentration factor (BCFpre ) from the predicted uptake rate constant (k1 pre ) and the depuration rate constant measured in the dietary exposure bioaccumulation fish test (k2 dietary ) [BCFpre = k1 pre /k2 dietary ] is proposed in test guideline 305 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals. Data were collected on the BCFs of 197 test chemicals from Japan's Chemical Substances Control Law database. To demonstrate how the BCFpre compares with experimentally derived BCF under optimum conditions, 48 of 197 test chemicals, including a number of studies that could be considered problematic, were excluded from the analysis. The k1 pre was calculated by using 22 published prediction methods: the correlations between experimental uptake rate constants (k1 aqueous ) and k1 pre for all prediction methods were very low and were statistically nonsignificant (p > 0.05). Three prediction methods were also selected that gave relatively good values for the geometric mean of k1 pre /k1 aqueous and calculated values of BCFpre for 12 test chemicals. Linear relationships (p < 0.05) are presented between logarithm of experimental and predicted BCF. The correlation coefficients of growth-corrected experimental and predicted BCF tended to be higher than values that were not growth corrected. For some test chemicals, use of predicted BCF led to a bioaccumulation classification different from that of existing regulatory criteria.
Keywords: Bioaccumulation; Bioconcentration; Biomagnification; Common carp; OECD test guideline 305.
© 2014 SETAC.