Salvaggio Antonio, Pecoraro Roberta, Scalisi Elena Maria, Tibullo Daniele, Lombardo Bianca Maria, Messina Giuseppina, Loreto Francesco, Copat Chiara, Ferrante Margherita, Avola Roberto, D'amante Giusi, Genovese Claudia, Raccuia Salvatore Antonino, Brundo Maria Violetta
Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Sicily "A. Mirri", Via Passo Gravina 195, Catania, I-95123, Italy.
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Science, University of Catania, Via Androne 81, Catania, I-95124, Italy.
Microsc Res Tech. 2017 Nov;80(11):1215-1220. doi: 10.1002/jemt.22919. Epub 2017 Aug 22.
Honey is a valuable food produced by bees from sugary substances that they gather in nature. The transformation the nectar into honey, by bees, is long and complex. Except for honey, where heavy metals are absent or are found only in traces, the bees and their products have always been considered excellent biomarkers of such contaminants. We have assumed that the absence of heavy metals in honey is due to the presence of a detoxification system in the digestive system of bees, which involves metallothioneins, proteins that have a role in the homeostatic control of essential and non-essential metals. We have placed the beehives in three different zones: industrial, urban and rural. Investigations were carried out with ICP-MS method for the detection of heavy metals in the guts of honey bees and honey. The metallothioneins have been identified by Immunohistochemical and Western-blotting analisys. The investigations have shown the presence of heavy metals only in bees guts but not in honey, while the presence of metallothionein has been highlighted only in epithelium of the honey sac, demonstrating the existence of an efficient system of detoxification of heavy metals.
蜂蜜是蜜蜂从自然界采集的含糖物质中生产出来的一种珍贵食物。蜜蜂将花蜜转化为蜂蜜的过程漫长而复杂。除了蜂蜜中不含重金属或仅含有痕量重金属外，蜜蜂及其产品一直被认为是此类污染物的优良生物标志物。我们假定蜂蜜中不存在重金属是由于蜜蜂消化系统中存在一个解毒系统，该系统涉及金属硫蛋白，这些蛋白质在必需金属和非必需金属的稳态控制中发挥作用。我们将蜂箱放置在三个不同区域：工业区、市区和农村地区。采用电感耦合等离子体质谱法对蜜蜂肠道和蜂蜜中的重金属进行检测。通过免疫组织化学和蛋白质免疫印迹分析鉴定金属硫蛋白。调查显示，重金属仅存在于蜜蜂肠道中，而蜂蜜中没有，同时仅在蜜囊上皮中发现了金属硫蛋白，这表明存在一个有效的重金属解毒系统。
