[Bioaccumulation of lanthanum by the mussels Mytilus edulis collected from French coasts. Microanalysis by X-ray spectrography and secondary ion emission].

The common marine mussel Mytilus edulis collected from French coastal waters of the Channel, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea was shown to contain lanthanum; higher levels were found in the samples collected from the Eastern Channel and more particularly from the Baie de Seine. 139La+ was detected within lysosomes of digestive gland, labial palp and gill epithelium, macrophage hemocytes and chitinous tissue. Lanthanum was always associated with high phosphorus contents in the lysosomes. Thus, lanthanum which exists in sea water at trace level is taken up by the Mussel, via gill and digestive tractus, in a soluble form and then concentrated in the form of an insoluble phosphate in the storage organelles. A comparison is made between the behaviour of lanthanides and actinides in the biological systems.