Oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses in the apple snail P. canaliculata exposed to heavy metals and uranium

CAMPOY DÏAZ, ALEJANDRA D; GIRAUD-BILLOUD MAXIMILIANO G.; VEGA ISRAEL A.

San Luis

Congreso; XXII Reunión de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2014

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Biomonitoring has the advantage of retaining a memory of pollutant emissions, thus overcoming the difficulty of detecting contaminants that are irregularly emitted and quickly diluted in large volumes, for instance in lakes and streams. The apple snail Pomacea canaliculata (Architaenioglossa, Ampullariidae) is a freshwater species original from the Plata basin, which has spread many places around the world, is highly adaptable and resistant to diverse environmental conditions, shows low individual mobility and has a life-cycle of 1?3 years depending on climate, which make them as a sentinel species. We have shown that the digestive gland (and the symbionts contained therein), the kidney, and the foot of this snail may be useful bioindicators of mercury, arsenic and uranium pollution in freshwater bodies. Here, we have studied lipid peroxidation (TBARs), total antioxidant potential (ABTS), and enzymatic (SOD) and non-enzymatic (GSH and uric acid/allantoin) antioxidants in control snails (no exposed) and snails exposed to mercury (2μg/L), or arsenic (10 μg/L) or uranium (30 μg/L) for 60 days. Interestingly, both mercury and arsenic produced a TBARs decrease in digestive gland and foot, respectively. Uranium produced GSH increase in the kidney. The remaining studied variables did not show statistically significant changes in the studied tissues. These results indicate that this snail is able to reach a physiological steady state between oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses after the metallic injury.