USE OF LUMBRICIDES SPECIES AS BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION WITH METALODISRUPTERS
B. Georgescu, Carmen Georgescu, S. Dărăban
Abstract
Based upon the ecological and trophic features of lumbricides, it is demonstrated in studies performed worldwide that these animal species may represent preferential organisms for the process of bioaccumulation of heavy metals. Environmental pollutants such as cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Co), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se) and mercury (Hg) were identified in the body of lumbricides using sensitive methods as for example atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Several tisular biomarkers of exposure to heavy metals have been characterized in lumbricides. Of these, methoxyrheorufin-O-deethylase (MROD), NADH and NADPH cytochrome-reductases, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), cytochrome P-450, catalase (CAT), glutatione-reductase (GR), acethylcholinesterase (AchE), lipide peroxidase (LP), the total glutathione concentration (GSH) and the percent of oxidizied gluthatione (% GSSG) deserve to be mentioned. These biomarkers are sensitive to exposure to metalodisrupters. These observations, evidenced in the majority of lumbricide species studied, may justify the use of lumbricides in environmental quality monitoring with respect to heavy metals pollution.
