目前我们对环境污染物毒性的认识主要来源于对某单一化学物质在相对高浓度情况下的研究.然而,人们在其一生中很少只暴露于单独某一种化学物质,而是同时暴露于多种低浓度的化学物质.从公众健康的角度讲,大家主要担心的是当两种和两种以上化学物质相互作用时,两者能否产生不同寻常的协同毒性.五氯酚、威百亩等有机农药和含铜、锌等无机农药皆被用作通用杀虫剂或木材保护剂,两者在许多农田和木材保护处理场所附近的土壤和水体以及在普通人群的体液和组织中,均发现同时共存.我们最近的研究表明,这两类物质共存时可以对大肠杆菌产生协同毒性效应,其协同毒性作用机制可能是由于两者形成了亲脂性络合物,促进了细胞对金属离子的吸收和累积.此类有机和无机污染物之间的相互作用以及亲脂性络合物形成而导致的协同毒性作用,可能是普遍存在于有机和无机污染物之间的一种共同毒性作用机制.这一假设是否成立,尚有待进一步的实验和理论研究.
Current knowledge on the toxicity of chemicals comes primarily from studies conducted on individual chemicals at relatively high concentrations. However, throughout their lifetimes, people are more commonly exposed to a range of chemicals at low concentrations. From a public health perspective, a major concern is whether toxicity could result from the interaction of two or more chemicals. Both organic pesticides (such as pentachlorophenol and metam sodium) and copper- and zinc-containing inorganic compounds are used as general biocides and wood preservatives. They are commonly found together in the soil and ground water near the wood-preserving and wood-disposing facilities, and in bodily fluids and human tissue. Recently, we have found that combinations of pentachlorophenol and copper, each at non-toxic concentrations, resulted in an enhanced cytotoxic effect, via a synergistic mechanism, in a bacterial model. Similar synergistic effects were observed with metam sodium and copper or zinc. This synergism, observed for organic and inorganic biocides, was found to be related to the formation of lipophilic complexes, which facilitate metal transport into bacterial cells. We propose that interactions between organic and inorganic biocides, and the formation of lipophilic complexes, that lead to a synergistic toxicity, may serve as a new mechanism for toxicity. This hypothesis needs to be further investigated, both experimentally and theoretically.