Mussel transplantation and biomarkers as useful tools for assessing water quality in the NW Mediterranean

Biochemical biomarker responses to pollution in selected sentinel organisms across the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea

“…The enzyme response to pollutants shows a bell-shaped trend, with an initial increase in activity due to the activation of enzyme synthesis followed by a decrease in enzymatic activity, due to the enhanced catabolic rate and/or a direct inhibitory action of toxic chemicals on the enzyme molecules (Viarengo et al 2007). Thus, high CAT activities found in mussels and fish at polluted sites are considered an adaptive response to ROS-inducing contaminants (Roméo et al 2003;Cappello et al 2013;Jebali et al 2013) whereas low CAT activities at polluted sites are linked with increased susceptibility to oxidative stress (Regoli et al 2004;Pampanin et al 2005a;Oliva et al 2012). Accordingly, the low CAT activities observed in this 16 study in mussels collected from the impacted sites suggest oxidative stress experienced by these animals.…”

“…GST response to toxic chemicals follows a bell-shaped profile (Viarengo et al 2007) and consequently increased and/or decreased GST activities are reported in specimens from impacted areas (Roméo et al 2003;Regoli et al 2004;Bebianno et al 2007;Turja et al 2014). GST is induced by organic contaminants as part of the phase II biotransformation pathway whereas GST inhibition has been reported as a more non-specific response to chemicals (Regoli et al, 2003) Thus the GST induction observed in mussels from the Greek impacted sites may actually be due to higher concentrations of organic pollutants, as highlighted by chemical data both in the sediments and biota (Tables 2 and 3) whereas the inhibition detected in the Lagoon of Venice and Slovenian coasts might be associated with higher levels of metals, particularly Cd, Cu and Zn.…”

Valuation of water pollution using enzymatic biomarkers in aquatic insects as bioindicators from El-Mansouriya stream, Dakahlia, Egypt

“…AChE plays an important role in neurotransmission in both vertebrates and invertebrates, and its activity has been widely studied and employed as a biomarker in aquatic invertebrate and vertebrate species to detect exposure to chemicals in natural ecosystem (PenaLopis et al, 2003;Romeo et al, 2003;Lavado et al, 2006). Furthermore, activity inhibition was correlated with the Zn, Cu and Cd accumulation in digestive gland and gills of treated clams (Kamel et al, 2012).…”

Maintenance of filtering molluscs in aquaria for sub-chronic studies

“…Artificial environments can be produced with the artificial water and sediments (Egeler et al, 1997). Then the organisms collected from the nature or farms are acclimatised and transferred to the small and simple systems for the studies over a short period of time (Gonzalez-Farias et al, 1997;Shin et al, 2002;Martel et al, 2003;Fowler et al, 2004) or are transplanted to other natural environments Roméo et al, 2003;Charissou et al, 2004;Amaral et al, 2005). However, certain studies need to have the chosen organisms in the equilibrated and stable aquaria for a longer period of time (Graaf, 1973).…”

“…But, their habitat and feeding habits must be maintained so that the quantification of the pollutant bioavailability may be done without other additional pressures (Rice, 2003). Amongst the bioindicator organisms, mollusc bivalves such as clams and mussels have been the main choice because they are sedentary and filter large amounts of the water, beyond to be naturally adapted to the dynamic environments as the estuaries and coasts (Fowler, 1997;Beeby, 2001;Shin et al, 2002;Roméo et al, 2003;Nicholson and Lam, 2005). They feed on the deposits or suspension of the substrates, and reflect the contamination of the sediment or the water column (Zulin et al, 2002).…”