Water quality assessment of the Tubarão River through chemical analysis and biomarkers in the Neotropical fish Geophagus brasiliensis

Abstract

The Tubarão River rises in Santa Catarina, Brazil, and has been historically affected by coal mining activities around its springhead. To evaluate its water conditions, an investigation regarding a possible decontamination gradient associated with the increased river flow toward the estuary, as well as the influence of seasonality over this gradient was performed through a series of biomarkers (vitellogenin, comet assay, lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation, gluthatione, gluthatione S-transferase, acetylcholinesterase, light microscopy in liver, and scanning electron microscopy in gills) and chemical analysis (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in bile and metal analysis in sediment) in the cichlid Geophagus brasiliensis. Two collections (summer and winter) were made in four distinct sites along the river, while sediments were sampled between those seasons. As expected, the contamination linked exclusively to mining activities was not observed, possibly due to punctual inputs of contaminants. The decontamination gradient was not observed, although seasonality seemed to have a critical role in the responses of biomarkers and availability of contaminants. In the summer, the fish presented higher histopathological damages and lower concentrations of PAHs, while in the winter they showed both higher genetic damage and accumulation of PAHs. The Tubarão suffers impacts from diverse activities, representing health risks for wild and human populations.

Metal pollution assessment in a Brazilian hydroelectric reservoir: Geophagus brasiliensis as a suitable bioindicator organism

“…Correspondingly, G. brasiliensis chronic exposed to environments where deleterious anthropogenic activities take place exhibited the same lesions observed in the present work (Benincá et al, 2010;Osório et al, 2013). These changes in liver and gills also show that the species chosen for the study is sensitive to low concentrations of metals and is therefore a suitable bioindicator for evaluating toxic metal pollution in lentic aquatic ecosystems in South America.…”

“…Therefore, fish are often used as bioindicators because they are considered sensitive; their life cycles are exclusively aquatic and bioaccumulation processes are easily detectable (Blanco et al, 2014;Lowe-McConnell, 1999;Mazzoni and Iglesias-Rios, 2002). Geophagus brasiliensis, a fish native to South America, has been found to be sensitive to environmental stressors and has been used as a bioindicator in several field studies (Benincá et al, 2012;Clemente et al, 2010;Osório et al, 2013;Paraguassú et al, 2005;Ruas et al, 2008;Wilhelm Filho et al, 2001), but its sensitivity to different metals has not yet been evaluated. In order to detect disturbances and evaluate both fish health and symptoms of environmental health, histopathological analyses serve as a biomarker that can show the cumulative effects of pollution on organisms chronically exposed (Au, 2004).…”

Assessing pollution in marine protected areas: the role of a multi-biomarker and multi-organ approach

“…PAH metabolites in fish bile are useful for indicating chronic exposure to pyrogenic or petrogenic PAHs (Oliveira Ribeiro et al 2005;Osório et al 2014). The increase of LPO in the liver and gills and the genotoxicity in the gills were associated with high levels of PAHs in specimens from the estuary.…”

Bioavailability of pollutants sets risk of exposure to biota and human population in reservoirs from Iguaçu River (Southern Brazil)

“…In this context, a multi-biomarker approach is a more suitable analysis to detect earlier biological responses triggered by pollutants (de Andrade Brito et al 2012;Linde-Arias et al 2008;Osório et al 2014). This approach will provide a better ecotoxicological scenario necessary for environmental management (Mills and Chichester, 2005).…”

“…Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity was analyzed only for G. brasiliensis liver supernatants. Previously published protocols (Costa et al 2010a(Costa et al , 2010bde Andrade Brito et al 2012;Osório et al, 2014) were utilized for analyzing all biochemical biomarkers.…”