Evangelia Strogyloudi

This study deals with the levels of Cu and Ni in flesh and gills of the demersal fish Mullus barbatus, collected during 1988 to 1995 from three différent areas of the Aegean Sea (Greece). The concentrations of Cu and Ni in edible tissue are comparable to those from the literature. Gills hâve higher levels than flesh. No major différences in métal levels in fish between sampling sites were observed.

The impact of salinity and water exchange rate on the accumulation of heavy metals in the benthic fish Zosterissesor ophiocephalus, collected from the shallow sublagoons Tholi and Paleopotamos, was studied. Both sublagoons are influenced by the intensive agricultural activity of the surrounding area in terms of the chemical substances’ drainage, and by the untreated sewage discharges of an urbanized area

This work is an evaluation of metal contamination degree in Phorcus turbinatus and a monitoring of metals impact on metallothioneins functioning. The gastropod was sampled from six stations along the northeastern and eastern coasts of Tunisia during four seasons (2014-2015). Our results suggested that sedimentological metallic contents (Copper, Zinc and Cadmium) vary significantly depending on stations and not significantly according to seasons except for copper. Nevertheless, differences were no significant between stations and significant between seasons as for ambient factors, metallic intrinsic contents and metallothioneins rates. The monodonta tissue seems to be enriched in the four analyzed metals (Cu, Zn, Cd and Hg) and this species seems to have an ability to accumulate metals. Metal effect on the protein induction may be linked to physicochemical factors (temperature, O2 and Cu contents in sediment). In fact, metallothioneins levels were positively correlated to the dissolv...

Metallothionein (MT) induction is widely used as a biomarker of exposure to metals in mussels. The aims of the present work were first to compare the suitability of spectrophotometry and differential pulse polarography (DPP) for MT detection in mussels exposed to 200 ppb cadmium for 9 days in a laboratory experiment and in mussels sampled in different seasons from expected pollution gradients along the Mediterranean Sea; second, to intercalibrate the widely used spectrophotometric method using mussels from Saronikos Gulf. In the intercalibration of the spectrophotometric method, similar results (p>0.05) were obtained by two different research teams indicating a good reproducibility of the technique. However, polarographic and spectrophotometric methods gave significantly (p<0.05) different results in laboratory and field studies. In the laboratory experiment, MT values detected with DPP were nine times higher than with spectrophotometry. The results obtained by the two methods were significantly correlated. Both methods could discriminate between control and exposed mussels. In field studies, MT values obtained by DPP were 34-38-fold higher than with spectrophotometry, and MT concentrations measured by both methods were not correlated. This discrepancy could be due to several factors, including the low levels of bioavailable metals in the studied areas and the possibility that the different methods can measure MT isoforms differentially. Further work is needed to decipher the functions of MT isoforms in mussels. This information is relevant for the application of MT as a biomarker in biomonitoring programmes.