You are here:
EVALUATION OF MICROSOMAL AND CYTOSOLIC BIOMARKERS IN A SEVEN-DAY LARVAL TROUT SEIMENT TOXICITY TEST
Citation:
Vigano, L., A. Arillo, S. De Flora, AND J. Lazorchak. EVALUATION OF MICROSOMAL AND CYTOSOLIC BIOMARKERS IN A SEVEN-DAY LARVAL TROUT SEIMENT TOXICITY TEST. Aquatic Toxicology 31(3):189-202, (1995).
Description:
Rainbow trout (Oncorhynclus mykiss) sac fry (larvae) were exposed to River Po sediments for 7 days. The sediments were collected in the River Po at two sites located upstream and downstream of the confluence of a polluted tributary, the River Lambro. An additional sediment treatment was also tested, in which trout larvae were kept from direct contact with the downstream sediment by interposing a Teflon net. Benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylase (AHH), ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), aminopyrine-N-demethylase (APDM) and UDP glueuronyl transferase (UDPGT) activities were found to be significantly induced in whole-body microsomal preparations of sac fry exposed to the downstream sediment. No significant modification was evident in any of the tested cytosolic biomarkers, i.e. glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) and the content of nonprotein thiols (SH). With the exception of a slight induction of AHH enzyme avtivity, no difference could be found between fry exposed to control sediment and those screened from the downstream sediment, suggesting that direct contact with sediment was the major route of exposure to contaminants. This study demonstrates that several enzyme activities, which are known to occur in juvenile and adult rainbow trout, are also detectable at the sac-fry (larval) stage, and some of these activities can be induced by a short-term exposure to a contaminated sediment.