Mutagen content and metabolic activation of promutagens by molluscs as biomarkers of marine pollution.

Organisms combat pollutants by inducing biotransformation pathways, which can be used for biomonitoring. Several parameters--biomarkers--change in stressed organisms or populations at different organisation levels. Molecular or cellular biomarkers are early-warning indicators of pollution. Xenobiotics are first biotransformed by phase I enzymes and then conjugated with endogenous metabolites by phase II enzymes. Many organic xenobiotics are initially biotransformed by cytochrome P4501A1; in mammals, it is induced by pollutants via Ah receptor, although in marine invertebrates, its inducibility is much more equivocal. Metallothioneins are small Cys-rich proteins which bind transition metals; they detoxicate pollutant metals and are clearly induced in metal-exposed marine invertebrates. Some pollutants are genotoxins or can be converted into them. Determination of mutagens in bivalve molluscs following extraction with solvents and assay of mutagenicity with bacterial tests is a useful biomarker for marine pollution. While some pollutants are directly mutagenic, others are only mutagenic after they are activated to mutagenic derivatives by monooxygenases or conjugative enzymes. Many of these catalysts are induced by xenobiotics; thus, increased activation of known promutagens can be used as biomarker of environmental pollution. Bioactivation of promutagens requires the simultaneous action of different pathways, thus, reproducing more closely the in vivo situation than the specific assay of individual biotransforming enzymes. Study of molluscs with different pollution levels indicates that polluted animals have higher capacity to activate 2-aminoanthracene and contain more apolar mutagens than those from reference areas.