The presence of microcystins in water has a negative impact on terrestrial and aquatic organisms and human health. The electrochemical degradation of microcystins [D-Asp3] MC-RR in Jaworski medium was carried out using boron-doped diamond anode. The biological activity of degradation products was tested by protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) inhibition assay. Electrochemical degradation was performed in continuous flow mode and batch flow mode. The biological activities of microcystin and the degradation products were decreased by both methods. However, continuous flow mode with stirring was more effective, degrading 91% of microcystins compared to 67% of microcystin degraded using the batch flow mode. After 50 minutes of continuous flow mode the microcystin reduced inhibitory activity in comparison with microcystin before treatment.
Standard methods for monitoring of phytoplankton have been available for many years and are part of national legislations of many countries. They usually include determination of chlorophyll a as a measure of total phytoplankton content, and microscopic analyses, providing information about taxonomic composition and cell counts. Although being routinely used and standardized they do not meet the needs of modern approaches in study of the planktonic community. Observations of both, the microbial variables and the corresponding environmental parameters, are limited in spatial and temporal resolution. Automated sensing technologies are therefore the only available technology able to collect large amounts of accurate and reliable data. Comparison of traditional methods and data from fluorescence sensors has been made. The results obtained by using our fluorometric detection system showed high correlation with the data obtained by traditional methods.
Fuorometric method for determination of the concentration of cyanobacteria in aqueous media, the morphology of their aggregation and energy state. This reaserach lead to patent application