EXPRESSION OF THE STRESS-70 PROTEIN FAMILY (HSP70) DUE TO HEAVY-METALCONTAMINATION IN THE SLUG, DEROCERAS-RETICULATUM - AN APPROACH TO MONITOR SUBLETHAL STRESS CONDITIONS

Adult specimens of the slug, Deroceras reticulatum, were exposed to su blethal concentrations of lead, cadmium, and zinc. After three weeks o f exposure, atomic absorption spectrophotometry revealed accumulation of all these metals in the animals. Highest exposure concentrations of lead, cadmium, and zinc resulted in highest contents of the respectiv e metals in the slugs. In accordance with this effect, D. reticulatum showed an increased expression of the 70 kD stress protein (stress-70, hsp70) in response to exposure to all three heavy metals tested. Quan tification of hsp70 increase took place with standardized Western-blot ting and densitometric imaging after background correction. Multiple i nvestigations revealed different reaction patterns to lead, cadmium, o r zinc exposure and showed that the applied technique serves as a vers atile tool to assess invertebrate stress reactions in response to envi ronmentally relevant toxicants. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Lt d