Bioassay-directed fractionation and chemical identification of mutagens in bioremediated soils

Soil from a Superfund site (Reilly Tar Site, St. Louis Park, Minnesota) contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from creosote was treated with several bioremediation technologies including bioslurry (BS), biopile (BP), compost (CMP), and land treatment (LT). These treatment technologies are being evaluated in pilot scale laboratory systems by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Risk Management Research Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio. To evaluate the genotoxicity and identify the mutagens in the soil before and after the various treatments, fractionated extracts of five soils were bioassayed for mutagenic activity with a microsuspension modification of the Salmonella histidine reversion assay. Soils were extracted by sonication using dichloromethane (DCM). The five extracts were fractionated in triplicate (two for bioassay and one for chemical analysis) by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using hexane/DCM/methanol, and the fractions for bioassay were solvent-exchanged into dimethyl sulfoxide by nitrogen evaporation. Forty HPLC fractions for each sample were bioassayed in strain YG1041 with and without exogenous liver metabolic activation. As shown in a companion paper, the mutagenicity of two treatments (BS and BP) was significantly greater than the mutagenicity of the untreated soil. Mutagenic fractions (>500 revertants) were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). PAH analysis of the soils indicated that all treatments were effective in reducing the total PAH concentration (48-74%). Qualitative GC/MS analysis of the mutagenic fractions from the BS and BP treatments indicated that they contained azaarenes, which are mutagens. The CMP and LT processes were the most effective and least toxic bioremediation procedures based on mutagenic potency and chemical analysis. This research demonstrated that the combination of bioassays and chemical analysis provided a more accurate determination of toxicity in these complex environmental mixtures.