Antioxidant responses to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and organochlorine pesticides in green-lipped mussels (Perna viridis): do mussels "integrate" biomarker responses?

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCs) are generally present in the marine environment in complex mixtures. The ecotoxicological nature of contaminant interactions, however, is poorly understood, with most scientific observations derived from single contaminant exposure experiments. The objective of this experiment was to examine dose-response relationships between antioxidant parameters and body contaminant levels in mussels exposed to different exposure regimes under laboratory conditions. Accordingly, the green-lipped mussel, Perna viridis, was challenged with a mixture of PAHs (anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene) and OC pesticides (alpha-HCH, aldrin, dieldrin, p,p'-DDT) over a 4 week period. Contaminants were delivered under four different dosing regimes, with all treatments receiving the same total contaminant load by the end of the exposure period. Antioxidant biomarkers were measured after 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks, including glutathione (GSH), gluathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR) and lipid peroxidase (LPO). GST and CAT were induced in hepatic tissues in most of the exposure regimes, with the majority of significant induction occurring in a constant exposure regime and a two-step alternate exposure regime. Significant differences among exposure regimes were detected in the body burden of contaminants after 28 days. Hepatic CAT and GSH are proposed as potentially useful biomarkers as they showed good correlation with target contaminants and were not readily affected by different dosing patterns.