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EFFECTS OF CADMIUM AND ZINC ON THE OVARIAN MATURATION AND HEMOLYMPH VITELLOGENIN CONCENTRATIONS OF PROCAMBARUS CLARKII: LABORATORY SIMULATION OF THE AZNALCOLLAR MINING SPILL.
Citation:
MartinDiaz, M. L., S. R. Tuberty, C L. McKenney Jr., AND A. Del Valls. EFFECTS OF CADMIUM AND ZINC ON THE OVARIAN MATURATION AND HEMOLYMPH VITELLOGENIN CONCENTRATIONS OF PROCAMBARUS CLARKII: LABORATORY SIMULATION OF THE AZNALCOLLAR MINING SPILL. Presented at Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Meeting, Vienna, Austria, May 12-16, 2002.
Description:
The Aznalcollar mining spill contaminated the nearby Guadiamar river that flows into the Guadalquivir Estuary. The mining accident produced almost 6 Hm3 of mud and acidic waters, with high concentrations of metals in solution including Cd, Cu, Mn, As, Pb and especially Zn. As a consequence, sediment and water quality from the aquatic ecosystem of both rivers were negatively affected. The red crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, was used as a bioindicator species and exposed 24 days to cadmium and 21 days to zinc with the concentrations of metals measured after the accident in the Guadiamar River: 1000 ?gL-1 and 3000 ?gL-1 zinc (zinc chloride) and 10 ?gL-1 and 30 ?gL-1 cadmium (cadmium chloride). Hemolymph samples (200 ?L) were collected every seven days. Ovaries and hepatopancreata were collected for calculation of ovarian (OI) and hepatopancreata indices (HI). Ovarian stages and OI and HI were compared between treatments. Significant decrease in OI was observed between zinc exposed (3000 ?gL-1) and control crayfish, furthermore, a trend characterized by decreased OI and increased HI was observed in both the zinc and cadmium exposed crayfish. Vitellogenin
quantitative ELISA results and total protein concentration (TP) in hemolymph are forthcoming. Initial results indicate that metals from the spill may significantly inhibit vitellogenesis and reduce reproductive potential of this crayfish.