Microplate Toxicity Tests with Microalgae

Algae are the dominant primary producers in the aquatic food chain. Disruptions to this production base would probably cause effects at higher trophic levels. Algal growth inhibition tests have been developed to apply in the field of ecotoxicological test. Many researchers optimized the procedure and performed the test in microscales using cuvettes, scintillation tubes, or microplates. The algal microplate technique has conferred a number of advantages over the classical flask test. Some of the principal advantages of microbiotests are reliability, low or no maintenance, rapid, space saving and minimization of equipment requirements. This review summarizes the major types of microplate procedures described in the literatures and the major experimental factors of importance linked to microplate assays. It indicated that the toxicity data was presented in numerous ways such as the different exposure times, temperatures, light intensity and nutrients that makes a direct comparison of the data difficult. The method standardization is needed to achieve comparable data. Keywords: microalgae; microplate; toxicity; test method