ISO 21115 is an international standard that deals with aspects of maintaining water quality.
ISO 21115 specifies a method for the determination of fish acute toxicity using the permanent cell line from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) gill, RTgill-W1.The recorded data are then expressed as a percentage of unexposed control and toxicity quantified based on the percentage of cell viability versus the percentage of effluent or the chemical concentration in response curves.
ISO 21115 gives you technical specifications such as terms, principles, interferences, reagents, apparatus, material, and test procedures as well as preparation and expression of the results, for the determination of acute toxicity of water samples and chemicals to a fish gill cell line (RTgill-W1).
ISO 21115 on the determination of fish acute toxicity is useful for:
Millions of fish are used annually to test the acute toxicity of water samples, such as effluents or chemicals. Using an alternative model of testing would not only reduce the need for animals but would have added benefits, such as much faster testing, using smaller volumes, and creating less waste.
ISO 21115 describes a procedure that assesses fish acute toxicity using a permanent fish cell line. Comparative work with both the zebrafish embryo and the cell line has shown that they are expected to yield similar results, i.e., within approximately a 10-fold range based on measured concentrations.
ISO 21115 describes two ways of cell exposures for you, one that specifies the procedure for the testing of water samples, and the other that specifies the procedure for the testing of individual chemicals. This explains to you how the cytotoxicity assay with the fish gill cell line, RTgill-W1, can be used for the direct testing of water samples without extraction, which is adapted and slightly modified.
ISO 21115