Analysis of micronuclei in blue mussels and fish from the Baltic and North Seas

Abstract

Micronuclei (MN) were analyzed in erythrocytes of flounder (Platichthys flesus) and wrasse (Symphodus melops) and in gill cells of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis). The organisms were collected from three study stations in the Baltic Sea and from seven stations in the North Sea (Karmsund area, Norway) 4 times. The statistically significant differences obtained were related to the season, sex of the fish, and sampling locality. Higher MN frequencies were found in fish and mussels collected from the most polluted study stations in the North Sea. The same tendency could be described in the Baltic Sea; however, it was masked by the recent oil spill from the Butinge oil terminal. Our results showing higher MN frequencies in presumably what were the most polluted study locations suggest that MN tests in fish and mussels may be used for the detection of genotoxic effects in a marine environment. The endpoint is well characterized and can be easily recognized, and the technique is convenient to use in field samplings following standard procedures and protocols.

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“…Smears were subsequently (Barsiene et al, 2004). Duplicate slides were prepared and examined from each copper exposed fish species, separately, for scoring nuclear changes and micronucleus frequencies under oil emersion (100 X) lens.…”

The Distribution of the MusselMytilusSpecies Along the Norwegian Coast

“…Environmental genotoxicity levels in organisms from North Sea, Mediterranean and northern Atlantic have been described in indigenous fish and mussel species inhabiting reference and contaminated sites (Wrisberg et al, 1992;Bresler et al, 1999;Baršienė et al, 2004Baršienė et al, , 2008aBaršienė et al, , 2010aBagni et al, 2005;Bolognesi et al, 2006b;Magni et al, 2006;Fernandez et al, 2011). Concerns about the environmental genotoxicity in an oil and gas industrial areas of the North Sea were raised when comparatively high levels of micronuclei incidences were detected in mussels Mytilus edulis and Atlantic cod Gadus morhua caged closely to the oil platforms (Hylland et al, 2008).…”

“…Sampling size in most of studies conducted with mollusc species have been scoring 1000-2000 cells per animal (Izquierdo et al, 2003;Hagger et al, 2005;Bolognesi et al, , 2004Bolognesi et al, , 2006aMagni et al, 2006;Baršienė et al, , 2006bBaršienė et al, , 2008bBaršienė et al, , 2010aBaršienė et al, , 2010bKopecka et al, 2006;Nigro et al, 2006;Schiedek et al, 2006;Francioni et al, 2007;Siu et al, 2008;Koukouzika andDimitriadis, 2005, 2008) and previous reviews have sug-gested that when using fish erythrocytes at least 2000-4000 cells should be scored per animal (Udroiu et al, 2006;Bolognesi et al, 2006). Previously scorings of 5000-10 000 fish erythrocytes where used for a MN analysis (Baršienė et al, 2004). Since 2009-2010, the frequency of MN in fish from the North and Baltic seas was mostly scored in 4000 cells.…”

“…Mussel sampling size in MN assays range from 5 to 20 mussels per site as reported in the literature (Venier and Zampieron, 1997;Bolognesi et al, 2004;Baršienė et al, 2004Baršienė et al, , 2006e, 2008aBaršienė et al, , 2008bFrancioni et al, 2007;Siu et al, 2008). Evidence suggests that a sample size of ten specimens per site is enough for the assessment of environmental genotoxicity levels and evaluation of the existence of genetic risk zones.…”

Robust predictive modelling of water pollution using biomarker data

“…Over the years, a large number of biomarkers has been developed, related to their potential effect on organisms (Depledge and Fossi, 1994;Depledge et al, 1995;Harvey and Parry, 1997;Regoli et al, 1998;Bresler et al, 2003;Hellou and Law, 2003;Rank and Jensen, 2003;Barsiene et al, 2004;Dahlhoff, 2004;Moore et al, 2004;Yang et al, 2004;Amiard et al, 2006;Bocchetti and Regoli, 2006;Lesser, 2006;Magni et al, 2006;Widdows and Staff, 2006). Although biomarkers play a great role in ecotoxicology and environmental risk assessment, they are sometime difficult to interpret.…”