Fish bioaccumulation and biomarkers in environmental risk assessment: a review

Oost, Ron van der; Beyer, Jonny; Vermeulen, Nico

doi:10.1016/s1382-6689(02)00126-6

Cited by 3,994 publications

(2,026 citation statements)

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“…Other biomarkers (GST activity, HSP70 levels, plasma sex steroid concentrations) failed to discriminate between fish caught in the different stations. However, although they are very sensitive and represent early signals of environmental contamination (Lam and Gray, 2003;van der Oost et al, 2003), biochemical responses often are of little relevance to higher levels of organization ). Moreover, biomarker-type responses in the field can be masked by several modulating factors such as contaminant antagonists or environmental parameters (Amiard et al, 1998;van der Oost et al, 2003).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, although they are very sensitive and represent early signals of environmental contamination (Lam and Gray, 2003;van der Oost et al, 2003), biochemical responses often are of little relevance to higher levels of organization ). Moreover, biomarker-type responses in the field can be masked by several modulating factors such as contaminant antagonists or environmental parameters (Amiard et al, 1998;van der Oost et al, 2003). This was particularly the case of endocrine parameters since the hormonal status of fish is highly changeable during the reproductive period, depending on the environmental conditions of the station.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This biomarker has proved less dependable as indicator of environmental contamination (van der Oost et al, 2003). In the same way, hepatic levels of stress protein HSP70 did not differentiate between contaminated and reference sites, although several authors have considered heat shock proteins a useful biomarker in case of contaminations with either BKME (Vijayan et al, 1998) or pesticides (Bagchi et al, 1996).…”

Section: Biochemical Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…However, when confronted with the huge ecosystem complexity, single-level approaches are often of limited use to assess the health status of the environment (Adams et al, 1992a) and extrapolations have to be made over a range of organization levels (Adams et al, 2000;Bernet et al, 2000). While it is not surprising that contaminated organisms display molecular and biochemical responses, it is difficult to establish that higher organization levels are actually affected by the pollution (van der Oost et al, 2003). On the other hand, investigations at the upper levels of organization do not allow a complete understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for the observed disruption (Attrill and Depledge, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiscale approach of fish responses to different types of environmental contaminations: A case study

Mayon

Bertrand

Leroy

et al. 2006

Science of The Total Environment

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In order to study the responses of wild fish to environmental contaminations, different sites (two references and three contaminated) were sampled across the Walloon hydrographical network (southern Belgium). The status of fish communities was characterized according to an index of biotic integrity (IBI). Furthermore, population structure, reproductive parameters and biochemical assays were performed on chub (Leuciscus cephalus) as sentinel species. The results showed impaired responses in fish sampled downstream paper mill effluents (BKME), in a polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) contaminated site, and in a river receiving pesticides (i.e. atrazine and hexachlorocyclohexane). High level of hepatic 7-ethoxyresorufin-Odeethylase (EROD) activity were evidence of direct toxicant exposure, while population structures showed unbalanced size-frequency distributions. Moreover, in the pesticide contaminated site, a higher proportion of atretic oocytes was found in females and abnormally high plasma alkali-labile phosphorus (ALP) values were noticed in males, compared to reference sites, suggesting that chubs were exposed to estrogenic compounds. IBI scores from both sites were also lower than in reference sites. On the other hand, no particular response was found in hepatic glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activities, hepatic heat-shock protein HSP70 concentrations and plasma sex steroids (estradiol-17β, 11-ketotestosterone and testosterone) in chubs from any sites. By using a multiparametric approach, a better understanding of response mechanisms to pollution in fish may be achieved in order to improve the ecological status of river ecosystems.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Biochemical Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Multiscale approach of fish responses to different types of environmental contaminations: A case study

Mayon

Bertrand

Leroy

et al. 2006

Science of The Total Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The measurement of the exposure to pollution and of the biological effects of toxicants 46 has become of major importance for the assessment of the quality of the environment (van der 47 Oost et al, 2003). The use of biological markers at the molecular or cellular level have been 48…”

Section: Introduction 45mentioning

confidence: 99%