Effect of seawater desalination and oil pollution on the lipid composition of blue mussels Mytilus edulis L. from the White Sea

Lipid Composition Modifications in the Blue Mussels (Mytilus edulis L.) from the White Sea

“…We know that when salinity is drawn down from 25 psu (normal values of salinity in the White Sea) to 14 psu, the functional activity of M. edulis is suppressed [23,48], and the mussels' tolerance of low salinity is ensured by cellular volume regulation using organic and inorganic osmolytes [32,49,50]. Thus, the acclimation of molluscs to reduced salinity apparently implies that storage lipids are utilized not only as sources of metabolic energy but also as substrates for the synthesis of organic osmolytes [34]. Moreover, it was shown that the action of increased salinity (from 25 psu to 35 and 45 psu) leads to various responses of the lipid composition of White Sea mussels, M. edulis, depending on the studied organ.…”

“…This may supposedly be one of the intracellular mechanisms to bind excessive cations lest they degrade the cell's enzymatic systems [46]. Exposure of White Sea mussels to reduced seawater salinity (15 psu) in aquarium experiments (25 psu as a control) resulted in an increase in the concentration of phospholipids, mainly PC and PS, in gills [44], alongside a reduction in the levels of cholesterol and storage lipids (triacylglycerols and cholesterol esters) in gills and digestive glands [34,47]. The reduced levels of cholesterol and storage lipids indicate an adverse efect of low salinity on the physiological state of the mussels and their metabolism.…”

“…Exposure of blue mussels from the White Sea to various concentrations of oil products in an aquarium experiment led to an increase in the level of phospholipids and a reduction of cholesterol concentration in gills and mantle, i.e. the gateway organs for external impacts [25,34]. These modiications in membrane lipids are believed to make cell membranes more permeable to oil products and create the conditions for their accumulation in these organs for further detoxiication.…”

“…There was also a substantial decrease in phospholipids, apparently in connection with membrane destruction [84][85][86]. Some papers have reported the modiications in lipid and faty acid composition of hydrobionts, including marine mussels, in response to organic and inorganic pollutants' efect [34,37,[87][88][89][90][91][92][93]. Since the lipid metabolism plays an important role in living organism, it is believed that the lipid and faty acid proile may be used to indicate the organism's health under stress conditions of pollutant efect.…”

“…In the White Sea, M. edulis L. is the dominant species of coastal (intertidal) ecosystems. Numerous studies on White Sea mussels' response to various environmental efects have identiied adaptive mechanisms on molecular, biochemical, cellular, physiological and behavioural levels of biological organization [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38].…”