Hemocytic Lysosome Response in the Snail Helix aspersa After Exposure to the Fungicide Copper Oxychloride

Abstract

This study investigated the use of lysosomal responses of hemocytes of the common garden snail, Helix aspersa, as biomarker of stress due to exposure to the fungicide copper oxychloride. The neutral red retention (NRR) time assay was employed for this purpose. Two groups of snails were exposed to 80 microg g(-1) and 240 microg g(-1) copper oxychloride in their food, respectively, for a period of 6 weeks. They were compared with a control group to which no copper oxychloride was added. The two groups exposed to the fungicide exhibited significantly higher (p < 0.001) whole body copper concentrations (200.85 +/- 53.5 and 272.24 +/- 67.15 microg g(-1) dry mass, respectively), and significantly shorter (p < 0.001) NRR times (10.22 +/- 3.53 and 2.67 +/- 2.83 min, respectively), after 6 weeks, compared to the control group (67.85 +/- 31.08 microg g(-1) dry mass and 24.44 +/- 8.35 min). In both exposure groups NRR times became progressively shorter as body copper concentrations increased over time. Thus, both exposure concentration and exposure time of copper oxychloride were shown to be important factors influencing lysosomal responses (and therefore NRR times) of H. aspersa hemocytes. It was concluded that these responses in this species, as measured by the NRR time assay, could be considered a useful cellular biomarker of stress resulting from exposure to copper oxychloride.

Hemocitical responses to environmental stress in invertebrates: a review

“…The results showed an increase in the number and/or size of the lysosomes in the hemocytes of the exposed animals, although it has not been a response dependent on the dose or the exposure time. Snyman et al (2000) investigated the use of lysosomal responses of hemocytes of the common garden snail Helix aspersa as bioindicator of stress resulted from the exposition to a fungicide copper based. The authors analyzed the retention time of neutral red, since the efflux of the lysosomal content to the cytosol can be measured by the retention time of such substance.…”

Use of the Land Snail Helix aspersa as Sentinel Organism for Monitoring Ecotoxicologic Effects of Urban Pollution: An Integrated Approach

“…have the capability to accumulate different classes of chemicals and serve as pertinent species for monitoring trace metals, agrochemicals, urban pollution, and electromagnetic exposure (Beeby and Richmond 2002, 2003; Berger and Dallinger 1993; Gomot de Vaufleury and Pihan 2000; Regoli et al 2005; Snyman et al 2000; Viard et al 2004). Other biologic effects have also been described, including growth inhibition, impairment of reproductive capacity, and induction of metallothioneins (MT); specific proteins are involved in metal homeostasis and detoxification (Dallinger 1996; Gomot-de Vaufleury and Kerhoas 2000).…”

Autophagy in response to environmental stresses: New monitoring perspectives

“…The assay has also been applied to vertebrate species like the freshwater fish Prochilodus lineatus (Monteiro et al, 2011). Methods of lysosomal integrity measurement to detect and assess stress induced by pollutants and toxicants have also been reported in terrestrial molluscs such as the garden snail Helix aspersa (Snyman et al, 2000(Snyman et al, , 2002 and annelids such as earthworm Spurgeon et al, 2004;Gastaldi et al, 2007;Lee and Kim, 2009;Sforzini et al, 2011). Lysosomal stability is in fact a recommended global health status indicator in biomonitoring by the OSPAR commission (http://www.ospar.org/).…”

“…Snyman et al (2000Snyman et al ( , 2002 Mytilus galloprovincialis Blue mussel, intertidal and nearshore habitats…”