INIBIOMA   20415
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN BIODIVERSIDAD Y MEDIOAMBIENTE
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Induction of carboxylesterase activity in Chilina gibbosa after a short term exposure to river water from a natural petroleum spill
Autor/es:
HERBERT LUCILA; LEGGIERI LEONARDO RAMÓN; DE ANNA JULIETA SOLEDAD; LUQUET CARLOS MARCELO; KRISTOFF GISELA
Lugar:
Buenos Aires
Reunión:
Congreso; 11th SETAC Latin America Biennial Meeting "The role of science in environmental decision‐making"; 2015
Institución organizadora:
SETAC Argentina
Resumen:
Las Minas stream is located southeast of the city of San Carlos de Bariloche in the south of Argentina (41°17´21´´ S, 71°10?´58´´ O, 1001 msnm). Between 1910 and 1940 natural reserves of crude oil near to the stream were exploited commercially until the activity stopped and the source was abandoned leaving behind an oil spill that affects Las Minas stream and also downstream water bodies. Chilina gibbosa is a freshwater gastropod native to most streams and lakes of southern Argentina and Chile and could be one of several non-target species affected by exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) present in Las Minas. C. gibbosa has been recently proposed as a sentinel species because its carboxilesterase (CE) activity has been found to be a very sensitive biomarker of effects of different pesticides and the same could be true for exposure to PAH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a short term exposure to petroleum on CE activity in C. gibbosa. Individuals were exposed to clean river water (Control, C), river water from a contaminated site in Las Minas (River Water, RW) and to a 1% dilution of the water soluble fraction of the petroleum found in the river water in the contaminated site in Las Minas (Water Soluble Fraction, WSF) for 48 hours. At the end of the exposure period, a noticeable difference in pigmentation was observed with the naked eye. Animals exposed to petroleum (RW and WSF) presented a darker foot area than control animals. CE activity was measured using p-nitrophenylacetate (p-NFA) and p-nitrophenylbutirate (p-NFB) as substrates. Animals exposed to river water from Las Minas (RW) showed an activation effect of 85% with respect to control animals in CE activity measured with p-NFB. CE activity measured with p-NFB of animals exposed to the 1% dilution (WSF) did not differ from CE activity of control animals even though an increase in activity was observed. No differences were found in CE activity between control and exposed animals when p-NFA was used as substrate. As a first approach to the subject, this study shows that C. gibbosa is affected by petroleum that might be present in its natural habitat and that CE activity could be a useful biomarker of PAH.