CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Many animals show different physiological responses to overcome the consequences of harsh environmental conditions such as extreme temperatures or shortage of oxygen, food or water. The freshwater snail Pomacea canaliculata is a successful invasive species that show physiological responses which may protect it from water shortage (during estivation) or low temperatures (during hibernation). These two hypometabolic states (and the arousal from them) imply imbalances between oxyradical production and antioxidant defenses. A particular feature of this species is the occurrence of a tissue system that stores uric acid as intracellular crystalloids and as renal urinary concretions. The stored uric acid seems to prepare the snail against the oxidative stress of arousal reoxygenation, as part of the ?preparation for oxidative stress? strategy, since this purine is used as an antioxidant. Comparative physiological studies of the mechanisms involved in tissue protection during hypometabolic states (and arousal) may provide answers to medical problems such as organ transplantation, myocardial infarction or wound healing. Furthermore, we proposed other applications of P. canaliculata focusing on the growth of the female phallic structures in response to environmental pollutants. Ampullariidae are unique among gastropods in that females show rudimentary phallic structures as those of mammals and these structures grow in response to organotin compounds (used in paints and in agriculture) and other agrochemical compounds. This masculinizing effect of contaminants and their possible deleterious effects on reproduction may be used as bioindicators of freshwater pollution, if the studies are made with snails from a laboratory cultured strain, under controlled conditions and with females of known age.