The relative importance of water and diet for uptake and subcellular distribution of cadmium in the deposit-feeding polychaete, Capitella sp. I.

The impact of dietary and water exposure on the accumulation and distribution of cadmium (Cd) in subcellular components of the polychaete Capitella sp. I was investigated. Worms were exposed to either dissolved Cd alone ('Water-Only' treatments; WO) or diet-bound Cd alone ('Algae-bound Only' treatments; AO). Thus, WO worms were starved and AO worms were fed. Differential centrifugation was used to fractionate worm homogenates into debris- (DE), mitochondrial- (MI), microsomal- (MC) and cytosolic- (CY) fractions, and the concentration of Cd in these fractions was quantified by radiometric analysis using the specific activity of the (109)Cd radioisotope. Neither exposure route nor Cd exposure affected the total protein content in the worms. However, fed, but not starved worms relocated proteins from the mitochondria to the cytosol in response to Cd exposure. In systems without Cd addition, starvation likewise influenced the distribution of protein between mitochondria and cytosol. Cutaneous uptake and accumulation of Cd from the water was related to surface area while dietary uptake was influenced by the amount of sediment passing through the gut. Irrespective of exposure route, Cd was accumulated primarily in the debris fraction although comparisons between the treatments indicated that relatively less Cd was located in DE and more in MI, MC and CY fractions in worms in AO compared to worms in WO. Cd per unit protein in DE and MI fractions was twice as high as in MC and CY fractions in WO, whereas MC contained the highest Cd content followed by MI, DE and CY fractions in AO worms. Our results stress the importance of exposure route for the internal distribution and toxicity of Cd to deposit feeders such as Capitella sp. I.