MICROFLUOROMETRIC STUDY OF BIOACCUMULATION OF BENZO(A)PYRENE AND MARKER XENOBIOTICS IN THE BIVALVE DONAX-TRUNCULUS FROM CLEAN AND POLLUTED SITES ALONG THE MEDITERRANEAN SHORE OF ISRAEL
V. Bresler et L. Fishelson, MICROFLUOROMETRIC STUDY OF BIOACCUMULATION OF BENZO(A)PYRENE AND MARKER XENOBIOTICS IN THE BIVALVE DONAX-TRUNCULUS FROM CLEAN AND POLLUTED SITES ALONG THE MEDITERRANEAN SHORE OF ISRAEL, Diseases of aquatic organisms, 19(3), 1994, pp. 193-202
This study focused on bioaccumulation of benzo(a)pyrene [B(a)P] from a
polluted environment and 2 xenobiotic markers under experimental cond
itions in various organs of the marine bivalve Donax trunculus. The ca
tionic dye acridine orange (AO) and anionic dye fluorescein (FLU) were
used as markers. Test molluscs were collected from 3 sites along the
Israeli Mediterranean shore: a relatively clean site, an oil-polluted
site and a site polluted by chemical effluents from a polyvinylchlorid
e (PVC) factory. B(a)P was determined in tissue samples using benzene
extraction and solid-surface luminescent analysis. Bivalves from the o
il-polluted site contained 55.6 ng B(a)P g-1 wet wt. B(a)P concentrati
on varied among body compartments: hepatopancreas > total soft tissues
> kidney > shell > mantle edge = gills. In experiments, living bivalv
es from these 3 sites were kept in seawater with 10 muM AO or 100 muM
FLU for 24 to 96 h. Accumulation and distribution of AO and FLU in the
molluscs was determined by vital contact microfluorometry and from et
hanolic extraction of the markers. Following exposure to the markers,
D. trunculus from the clean site showed AO concentrations as follows:
mantle edge > kidney > hepatopancreas > gills > central part of the ma
ntle. For FLU the order was: kidney > gills > mantle edge > hepatopanc
reas > -central part of the mantle. D. trunculus from polluted sites d
emonstrated a decrease in AO concentration and an increase in FLU conc
entration, especially in specimens from the site polluted by the PVC f
actory. Experimental thermal stress produced a drastic decrease in AO
bioaccumulation. The observed bioaccumulation of B(a)P, AO and FLU ref
lects the environmental quality and can thus be used for monitoring.