Abstract
Oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) is generated during extraction of bitumen in the surface mining oil sands industry in Alberta, Canada. Studies were performed in vitro by use of Caco-2 cells, and in vivo with larvae of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) to determine if organic compounds from the aqueous phase of OSPW inhibit ATP binding cassette protein ABCB1 (permeability-glycoprotein, P-gp). Neutral and basic fractions of OSPW inhibited activity of P-gp in Caco-2 cells by 1.9- and 2.0-fold, respectively, while the acidic fraction had the least effect. The organophosphate pesticides chlorpyrifos (a substrate of P-gp) and malathion (not a substrate of P-gp), were used as model chemicals to investigate inhibition of P-gp in larvae. Co-exposure to chlorpyrifos and an extract of OSPW containing basic and neutral compounds reduced survival of larvae to 26.5% compared to survival of larvae exposed only to chlorpyrifos, which was 93.7%. However, co-exposure to malathion and the extract of OSPW did not cause acute lethality compared to exposure only to malathion. Accumulation and bioconcentration of chlorpyrifos, but not malathion, was greater in larvae co-exposed with the extract of OSPW. The terminal elimination half-life of chlorpyrifos in larvae exposed to chlorpyrifos in freshwater was 5days compared with 11.3days in larvae exposed to chlorpyrifos in OSPW. Results suggest that in non-acute exposures, basic and neutral organic compounds in the water-soluble fraction of OSPW inhibit activity of P-gp, which suggests that OSPW has the potential to cause adverse effects by chemosensitization. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.