Environmental genotoxicity and cytotoxicity studies in mussels before and after an oil spill at the marine oil terminal in the Baltic Sea

Abstract

Environmental genotoxicity and cytotoxicity effects in the gills of mussels Mytilus edulis, from the Baltic Sea areas close to the Būtingė oil terminal (Lithuania) before and after accidental oil spill in 31 January 2008 were studied. Mussels from the oil spillage zones were collected in 12 days, in 3 and 6 months after the spill to determine the effects of the spill. Mussels sampled in 2006-2007 were used for the assessment of the background levels of genotoxicity and cytotoxicity in the Būtingė oil terminal area. Comparison of the responses in M. edulis before and after the oil spill revealed significant elevation of frequencies of micronuclei (MN), nuclear buds (NB) and fragmented-apoptotic (FA) cells. Environmental genotoxicity and cytotoxicity levels in mussels from the Palanga site before the accident (in June 2007) served as a reference. Six months after the accident, in July 2008, 5.6-fold increase of MN, 2.9-fold elevation of NB, and 8.8-fold elevation of FA cells were observed in mussels from the same site.

Mussel micronucleus cytome assay

“…The technique validated to evaluate MN frequency in gill cells is the most frequently applied in different species of marine [21][22][23][25][26][27][30][31][32][33][45][46][47][65][66][67][68][69][70][71] and freshwater bivalves 43,[57][58][59] and can be applied in the field as well as laboratory studies; however, in field studies, samples should be transferred to the laboratory within 24 h. The main limitation for using gill cells in large-scale biomonitoring studies is that cell preparation requires enzymatic treatment, washes and incubations in buffers to obtain single-cell suspensions. An alternative protocol, involving the direct spreading of cells from gill arches on slides, was proposed and applied in a number of biomonitoring studies in the Baltic and North Seas 28,34,35,[72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80] . Although this method could be useful in specific situations, such as mussel sampling on board a ship, it does not allow a standardized single-cell preparation to be obtained.…”

Micronucleus test in fishes as indicators of environmental quality in subestuaries of the Río de la Plata (Uruguay)

“…Amado et al (2006a,b) did not found correlation among them for M. furnieri and P. orbignyanus species in the Patos Lagoon estuary, neither Baršienė et al (2012) in the Baltic Sea. The intrinsic features of estuaries might explain this finding, where these variables fluctuate due to mixing process (Nagy et al, 1996(Nagy et al, , 2001.…”

“…The constant exposure of estuarine biota to toxic substances may have impacts from the molecular level to the entire individual (Jesus and Carvalho, 2008). Sentinel organisms are thus used as indicators due to their modulated and integrated responses environmental xenobiotics (Monserrat et al, 2007;Koukouzika and Dimitriadis, 2008;Baršienė et al, 2012). In this regard fish are considered good indicators of the quality of aquatic ecosystems because they occupy different trophic levels, bioaccumulate toxic substances and react to low concentrations of pollutants (Minissi et al, 1995;Porto et al, 2005;Bolognesi and Hayashi, 2011).…”

Active biomonitoring of mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis with integrated use of micronucleus assay and physiological indices to assess harbor pollution

“…In many studies, a number of seasonal effects, modulating the formation of micronuclei were also observed (Bolognesi et al, 2004;Kalpaxis et al, 2004;Nigro et al, 2006;Baršienė et al, 2012). Furthermore, some endogenous factors causing physiological changes (Sole et al, 1995), and related to the reproductive cycle of bivalves, especially in mussels M. galloprovincialis, were found to affect the metabolism and bioaccumulation of pollutants and alter the responses to micronucleus tests as well (Henry et al, 1990;Bolognesi et al, 2004;Kalpaxis et al, 2004).…”