PARENT SESSION

2C - Biomarkers
Poster Hall
8:30 AM - Tuesday, 29 April 2003
Chair: Hansen, P.D.¹, ¹
Co-chair: Vindimian, E.², ²

(TUP/87) Cholinesterases activity in Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki: background levels and sensitivity to pollutants.

Bonacci, Stefano¹, Corsi, Ilaria¹, Santovito, Gianfranco², Chiantore, Maria Chiara³, Castagnolo, Lucio¹, Focardi, Silvano¹, ¹ University of Siena, Siena, SI, Italy² University of Padova, Padova, PD, Italy³ University of Genova, Genova, GE, Italy

ABSTRACT- Antarctic organisms are exposed to contaminants that originate from either increasing anthropic activities in the area or the atmospheric transport of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The present study is the preliminary part of a wider work that aims to establish links between environmental quality of Antarctic areas and biochemical end-points in resident aquatic species. In temperate zones the measurement of cholinesterase (ChE) activities in bivalve species is currently used as biomarker of exposure to insecticides and recent studies provide evidence that heavy metals exposure can interfere with ChE activities. In this regard, little is known about both exposure and effects of such pollutants to Antarctic bivalves. Thus, we investigated ChE activities in the scallop Adamussium colbecki, a key-species of the Antarctic marine environment. The present study had two main aims: 1) to characterize esterase activities in specimens collected from Campo Icaro (Ross Sea, Antarctica) in order to assess background levels, tissue activity, substrate sensitivity and finally susceptibility to specific inhibitors 2) to assess the sensitivity of ChE activities in A. colbecki to either in vitro exposure to chlorpyrifos and in vivo Zn²⁺ treatment. Results showed the presence of ChE activities with background levels and characteristics comparable with those found for bivalve species coming from temperate areas. Results of the laboratory study indicated inhibition by either Iso-OMPA or BW284c51 or Chlorpyrifos in vitro exposure and disruption of ChE activities upon Zn²⁺ treatment was observed.

Key words: biomarkers, Antarctica, esterase, bivalve