COAL-CONVERSION GASIFIER CONDENSATE 213 



detritus in the food vacuoles of ciliates remaining after exposure to 

 the toxicant. 



Test cells also discharged mucocysts (Fig. 4a) within the first 

 15 min for all concentrations tested. All mucocysts appeared to be 

 affected since no crystalline lattice was seen in mucocysts of any 

 cells exposed to concentrations greater than 1%. Cells exposed to 1% 

 toxicant or less retained a few mucocysts with a crystalline matrix, 

 however, even after 6 hr of exposure. The apparent decrease in 

 glycogen content with increased length of exposure suggested for 

 Tetrahymena exposed to phenol (Schultz and Dumont, 1977) was 

 not as apparent for cells exposed to gasifier condensate. 



Population Growth 



Population growth of axenic cultures of Tetrahymena grown at 

 28° C was measured spectrophotometrically as absorbance at 540 nm. 

 Growth of cultures exposed to condensate concentrations of 0.2 to 

 1% for 72 hr showed an inverse relationship to concentration, with 

 the mean rate during exponential growth being significantly affected 

 (P < 0.05) by concentration (Fig. 5). In the presence of 0.2% 

 toxicant, cells grew at a somewhat slower rate than controls, but in 

 0.4% they grew at about half the rate of controls. These cultures 

 plateaued at 48 hr at about 66% of the final control value. In 0.6% 

 toxicant, populations grew at an even slower rate and plateaued 

 within 36 hr at ~33% of the final control value. Growth of cultures 

 exposed to 0.8% condensate plateaued in ~30 hr at an absorbance 

 less than 25% of that of 72-hr controls. Gasifier condensate at 1% 

 concentration inhibited population growth during the 72 hr tested. 



Pure Compounds 



The behavioral, respiratory, and cytological results for the four 

 pure phenolic derivatives paralleled results described by Schultz and 

 Dumont (1977) for pure phenol and those given here for gasifier 

 condensate. We should note, hov/ever, that, although Tetrahymena 

 detoxified or otherwise altered phenol (as indicated by return to 

 normal shape and motility within 8 hr), cells exposed to methyl- and 

 ethyl-substituted phenols did not recover as rapidly, exhibiting shape 

 and motility alterations for as long as 24 hr after exposure. 



DISCUSSIOIM 



Although the gasifier condensate water used in this investigation 

 is not a final effluent, there is a real need for biomedical and 



