IN VITRO CYTOTOXIC AND TERATOGENIC POTENTIAL OF SEDIMENT EXTRACTS FROM SKADAR LAKE USING FISH CELL LINE RTL-W1 AND DANIO RERIO EMBRYOS

and the largest freshwater reservoir in southeastern Europe) were investigated in order to evaluate possible ecotoxicologi-cal contamination by organic pollutants and to obtain a comprehensive insight into the ecotoxicological hazard. Sediments were investigated for toxicity by two different bioassays. Acute cytotoxicity was investigated using the fibroblast-like cell line RTL-W1 (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in combination with the neutral red retention assay. The embryos of zebrafish (Danio rerio) were used to assess the toxic and teratogenic potential of organic extracts of the sediment. Preliminary results point to the presence of a cytotoxic and teratogenic potential in Skadar Lake sediment extracts in certain locations. Key words: In vitro toxicity testing, sediment cytotoxicity, embryo toxicity, zebrafish (Danio rerio), Skadar Lak