Clam transplantation and stress-related biomarkers as useful tools for assessing water quality in coastal environments

In this study, the Active BioMonitoring (ABM) approach has been investigate d using species of indigenous (from a pristine site) and transplanted (to a polluted area) hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria as an indicator organism of water/sediment pollution in Tampa Bay, Florida, a highly urbanized and ind ustrialized subtropical estuary, A range of possible induced stress indices was selected and used on the basis of potential pollutant toxicity mechani sms including specific enzymatic responses (MFO as BPH and NADPH cytochrome c reductase, antioxidant enzymes as SOD and caltalase, PDH) and general ce llular damage (lysosomal latency, histopathological lesions). The organic s ediment contamination compared to the animal body burden revealed bioaccumu lation activity in transplanted clams, The marked increases of BPH and cata lase activities, together with the significant reduction of lysosomal membr ane stability in transplanted animals, suggested their potential for applic ation as biomarkers in subtropical coastal pollution monitoring. (C) 1999 E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.