Physiological differences in the crab Ucides cordatus from two populations inhabiting mangroves with different levels of cadmium contamination. (2nd August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ortega, Priscila; Vitorino, Hector A.; Moreira, Renata G.; Pinheiro, Marcelo A.A.; Almeida, Alaor A.; Custódio, Márcio R.; Zanotto, Flávia P.
• Is Part Of: Environmental toxicology and chemistry. Volume 36:Number 2(2017:Feb.)
• Page Start: 361
• Page End: 371
• Publication Date: 2016-08-02
• Subjects: Cadmium -- Gill -- Hepatopancreas -- Membrane fluidity -- Cadmium transport; Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental chemistry -- Periodicals; 615.902
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.3537
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0730-7268

Abstract

Abstract: Crustaceans found in metal‐contaminated regions are able to survive, and the authors investigated the physiological mechanisms involved by comparing populations from contaminated and noncontaminated areas. The objective of the present study was to measure the cellular transport of a nonessential metal (cadmium [Cd]) in gills and hepatopancreas of Ucides cordatus, together with cell membrane fluidity, metallothionein levels, and lipid peroxidation. The 2 populations compared were from a polluted and a nonpolluted mangrove area of São Paulo State, Brazil. The authors found, for the first time, larger Cd transport in gills and hepatopancreatic cells from crabs living in polluted mangrove areas. The cells also had lower plasma membrane fluidity, increased lipid peroxidation and less metallothionein compared to those from nonpolluted regions. The authors also found larger amounts of Cd in intracellular organelles of gills, but not in the hepatopancreas, from crabs in polluted regions. Therefore, in polluted areas, these animals showed higher Cd transport and lower plasma membrane fluidity and storage of Cd intracellularly in gill cells, whereas hepatopancreatic cells used metallothionein as their main line of defense. The findings suggest that crabs from polluted areas can accumulate Cd more easily than crabs from nonpolluted areas, probably because of an impairment of the regulatory mechanisms of cell membrane transport. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:361–371. © 2016 SETAC