engleski

Metallothioneins and heat shock proteins in marine mussels as sensors of environmental pollution in Northern Adriatic Sea

In an attempt to asses the intensity of environmental pollution in industrial zones of Kvarnerian Bay in Northern Adriatic Sea and the reactivity of Mytilus galloprovincialis to these changes, in this study we estimated the concentration of heavy metals at four locations in both sea-sediment and in the mussels, trying to correlate these changes with seasonal variations in environmental temperature, pH and salinity, as well as with the expression of metallothioneins (MTs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs) in the digestive tract of the mussels. Sampling in vivo was performed monthly, during the year 2008, while in laboratory conditions the reactivity of acclimated mussels were tested to increasing concentrations of CdCl2 or to thermal stress. The data have shown that the induction of MTs and isoforms of the 70-kDa size class HSPs were highly affected by contamination of sea-sediment by Pb, Hg and Cd, implying that these stress proteins might be powerful ecological tracers for marine pollution.

Biomonitoring; Ecotoxicity; Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis; Heavy metal contamination; Metallothioneins; Heat shock protein 70

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