Abstract

Earthworms are useful bioindicator organisms for soil biomonitoring. Recently the use of pollution biomarkers in earthworms has been increasingly investigated for soil monitoring and assessment. Earthworm coelomic fluid is particularly interesting from a toxicological perspective, because it is responsible for pollutant disposition and tissue distribution to the whole organism. The aim of the present work was to study the effect of heavy metal exposure on metallothionein (Mt) induction in the coelomic fluid of Lumbricus terrestris in view of future use as sensitive biomarker suitable for application to metal polluted soil monitoring and assessment. L. terrestris coelomic fluid showed a detectable Mt concentration of about 4.0 ± 0.6 g/mL (mean ± SEM, = 10) in basal physiological condition.When the animals were exposed to CuSO4 or CdCl2 or to a mixture of the two metals in OECD soils for 72 h, theMt specific concentration significantly ( < 0.001) increased.TheMt response in the coelomic fluid perfectly reflected the commonly used Mt response in the whole organism when the two responses were compared on the same specimens. These findings indicate the suitability of Mt determination in L. terrestris coelomic fluid as a sensitive biomarker for application to metal polluted soil monitoring and assessment.

Autore Pugliese

• Lionetto Maria Giulia

Tutti gli autori

• A. Calisi , M. G. Lionetto , E. De Lorenzis , A. Leomanni , T. Schettino

Titolo volume/Rivista

BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL

Anno di pubblicazione

2014

ISSN

2314-6141

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Scopus

7

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

28/04/2018

Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile