Pesticides, Nutrients, Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Possible Drivers of Jenynsia lineata Biomarkers Responses: a Field Study in Tres Arroyos Basin (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

OJEDA ROSSI, GASTÓN EZEQUIEL; ITURBURU FERNANDO GASTÓN; LOMBARDERO LUCAS RODRIGO; TRUCHET, DANIELA MARÍA; GONZÁLEZ SAGRARIO, MARÍA DE LOS ÁNGELES; ALTAMIRANO, JORGELINA; MENONE MIRTA LUJÁN

Montevideo

Congreso; SETAC Latin America 15th Biennial Meeting; 2023

SETAC

Chemical pollution could lead to a biodiversity loss in aquatic ecosystems, one of the components of the current triple planetary crisis. Since organisms are exposed to chemical mixtures from different anthropic sources, assessment of effects in biota must be tackled from an integrated approach. In this sense, this study aimed on assessing biomarkers associated to neurotoxicity, oxidative damage and genotoxicity in the fish Jenynsia lineata in Tres Arroyos Basin (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and on understanding if the presence of pesticides, pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PPCPs) and nutrients in the water could be drivers for this effects. For this purpose, two sampling events (December/ February) were performed in five sites of the basin. Samples of surface water were collected for chemical analyses, and fish for biomarkers evaluation. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was evaluated in brain, malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver and gills, and micronuclei and nuclear abnormalities in blood red cells. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) biplot was performed with morphometric parameters, biomarkers responses and chemical variables (∑Pesticides, ∑PPCPs, total nitrogen, total phosphorous). Moreover correlation among variables was tested. PCA results showed that sites associated to rural activities are explained by morphometric measures and sites related to urban pollution by chemicals’ concentration and nuclear abnormalities. Significant correlations were observed between fish morphometric measures and AChE activity (positive) and MDA content in gills (negative). Among biomarkers nuclear abnormalities were correlated with AChE activity and MDA in liver (p< 0.05). It is noteworthy that ∑Pesticides and ∑PPCPs are positively and significantly correlated with MDA in gills (p< 0.05), highlighting the usefulness of this biomarker in gills for this type of environmental studies. Regarding relations among chemicals, both total nitrogen and phosphorus were positively correlated with ∑PPCPs (p< 0.05). Hence, taking into account these results we could conclude that despite morphometric variables could be confounding factors in biomarkers response, lipid peroxidation in gills of J. lineata was evidently associated to contaminants presence, and nutrients. Moreover, the ∑PPCPs correlation observed could be useful for future studies. Finally, these results would be interpreted in a comprehensive analysis with particular chemical identification of pesticides and PPCPS.