Chironomus riparius exposure to field-collected contaminated sediments: From subcellular effect to whole-organism response

Effects of microplastics and salinity on food waste processing by black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae

“…Our results revealed that the pupation ratio of BSFL was higher in microplastic-treated groups compared to the control. Previous studies reported that various contaminants including poly aromatic compounds can act as an endocrine disruptor and lead to increased body weight of midge (Arambourou et al 2019). Further study is needed to investigate whether PE or PS also can act as endocrine disruptor and thus affect the physiology of BSFL.…”

Use of Larval Morphological Deformities in Chironomus plumosus (Chironomidae: Diptera) as an Indicator of Freshwater Environmental Contamination (Lake Trasimeno, Italy)

“…In this regard, some studies based on ecotoxicological laboratory experiments queried the relationship between chironomid deformities and toxicity assessment in freshwater ecosystems [24,49,[72][73][74][75][76]. However, the high variability of those experimental results can be influenced by different variables, such as: (i) the endpoint used (mentum, mandibles, pectin epipharyngis); (ii) the deformity types considered; (iii) the larval instars used in the experiment; (iv) the type of cultures used which often cause a high incidence of deformities in the control test; (v) the exposure time of the larvae to the contaminants; and (vi) the type of contaminant mixture used in the test.…”

“…In this regard, studies on chironomid mouthpart deformities have been developed since the 1970s [26][27][28] and a vast amount of literature based on laboratory bioassays [22,23,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] and field surveys [21,[42][43][44][45][46][47] endorses that the incidence of these deformities is well associated with the degree of sediment toxicity, whereas no relationship has been detected between deformed phenotypes and organic enrichment; hence, the water quality assessment indices are not always consistent with the use of chironomid deformities [48]. However, some studies have expressed concerns about the association between deformity incidence and toxicants [24,49].…”

Contaminated aquatic sediments

“…When the PHE concentration was 0.2 mg/kg, desorbed and degraded PHE were 96.8% and 84.9%, respectively, within 2 hr with ozone concentration of 0.6 mg/L, since the PHE removal mechanisms were supported by desorption and degradation of pollutants by released and free oxidant. Arambourou et al (2019) examined the metabolic change, cellular effects, anatomical discrepancy and whole-organisms' reaction of Chironomus riparius, a well-known widely used biomarker for water and sediment toxicity, when exposed to contaminated sediment by metals, PAHs, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), phthalates, and pesticides collected from three locations, that is, MON, PAR, and ECH; and biochemical response, for example, lipidomic analysis, gene expression related with growth and reproduction, endocrine disruption pathways, cell stress response, enzyme activities, energy generation and storage mechanisms and biotransformation processes; physiological response such as respiration rate; teratogenic property such as shape markers; life cycle parameters such as emergence rate and male/female ratio were evaluated by the research group but no apparent links among molecular, cellular, shape and physiological marker were evaluated. Endocrine disruption pathways, hormone ecdysone activity with signaling mechanism, genetic cascade disruption for hormonal pathway, vitellogenin (vtg) disturbance were articulated due to contaminant exposure; moreover, cell viability with protein translation, folding, unfolding, translocation and degradation gene upregulation were identified where this upregulation was responsible for defense mechanisms for protecting cellular components against external environmental stress and hazard.…”