Assessment of metallothioneins in tissues of the clam Megapitaria squalida as biomarkers for environmental cadmium pollution from areas enriched in phosphorite.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of metallothionein (MT) concentrations in tissues of the clam Megapitaria squalida as biomarkers of environmental cadmium (Cd) pollution from phosphorite enrichments in the marine environment, which resulted from mining activities in La Paz Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Cd and MT were quantified in gills, digestive gland, and kidney of clams exposed to 0.2 or 0.5 mg Cd l(-1) for 10, 20, or 30 days. In addition, clams from four strategically selected natural sites of La Paz Bay were collected for analysis. In tissues of bioassayed and untreated clams, the gradient of Cd concentrations was digestive gland>>gills>kidney, whereas that of MT was digestive gland>gills>kidney. Digestive gland of the clams exposed to 0.5 mg Cd l(-1) for 30 days showed the highest concentrations of Cd (16.3+/-3.9 microg Cd g(-1)). The highest statistically significant MT concentrations were found in digestive gland at 10 days of exposure to Cd. In the untreated clams, one of the highest Cd concentrations, but not MT levels, was found in digestive glands of the organisms collected from the area close to phosphorite mining activities. For environmental monitoring, MT levels in digestive gland can be used as a first approximation of the presence of high levels of divalent metals in the environment. However, in this study, MT levels did not correlate with high Cd levels in clams that had been collected from areas associated with phosphorite enrichment.