Terrestrial isopods are capable of accumulating contaminants and are, therefore, widely used in soil ecotoxicology, laboratory toxicity tests and field monitoring. Indeed, the main target organ for contaminant accumulation is the hepatopancreas, which consists of small (S) and large (B) cell types, differing in morphology and function. We applied Flow Cytometry (FC) characterized by an increasing application in the environmental field in recent years. FC analyses were coupled with confocal microscopy (CM) in order to investigate the vital and functional conditions of isopods’ hepatopancreatic cells collected from sites with different levels of pollution/stress, namely: unpolluted/unstressed (C), medium (MP) and highly polluted/stressed (SP) sites. Cell labelling protocols were applied for detecting the viability and different functional parameters among C, MP and SP conditions. Soil organic matter was sampled together with isopods at each selected site and analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the bioavailable concentrations of heavy metals (i.e. Pb, Cd). We found: i) a relevant and significant increase of hepatopancreatic cell death following the degree of environmental stress; ii) a significant increase of oxidative stress values in the hepatopancreatic S and B cells of individuals from SP sites. The CM analyses showed a disorganized structure and modified cells in the samples from SP sites, confirming the reliability and accuracy of FC data. Finally, we paired the results of the FC analyses to the geochemical data highlighting that the highest values of cell death and oxidative stress were found for isopods lived in soils with elevated bioavailable concentrations of heavy metals. The present in vivo results match well with those of our previous in vitro pollution model. Our results show that isopods are useful bioindicators providing information on the quality of environment in which they live. The assessment of the viable and functional conditions of their hepatopancreatic cells might represent a useful parameter to infer the potential stress. Starting from the FC conditions of isopod hepatopancreatic cells, we are developing an environmental quality index to be applied in field-based biomonitoring program.

Assessment of environmental quality through biomonitoring of terrestrial Isopods using cytometric analysis of hepatopancreatic cells of A. vulgare

Giovanna Panza;Mariele Montanari;Daniele Lopez;Giovanni Pasini;Francesco Nannoni;Caterina Ciacci;Sabrina Burattini;Fabrizio Frontalini;Stefano Papa;Barbara Canonico;Riccardo Santolini
2024

Abstract

Terrestrial isopods are capable of accumulating contaminants and are, therefore, widely used in soil ecotoxicology, laboratory toxicity tests and field monitoring. Indeed, the main target organ for contaminant accumulation is the hepatopancreas, which consists of small (S) and large (B) cell types, differing in morphology and function. We applied Flow Cytometry (FC) characterized by an increasing application in the environmental field in recent years. FC analyses were coupled with confocal microscopy (CM) in order to investigate the vital and functional conditions of isopods’ hepatopancreatic cells collected from sites with different levels of pollution/stress, namely: unpolluted/unstressed (C), medium (MP) and highly polluted/stressed (SP) sites. Cell labelling protocols were applied for detecting the viability and different functional parameters among C, MP and SP conditions. Soil organic matter was sampled together with isopods at each selected site and analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the bioavailable concentrations of heavy metals (i.e. Pb, Cd). We found: i) a relevant and significant increase of hepatopancreatic cell death following the degree of environmental stress; ii) a significant increase of oxidative stress values in the hepatopancreatic S and B cells of individuals from SP sites. The CM analyses showed a disorganized structure and modified cells in the samples from SP sites, confirming the reliability and accuracy of FC data. Finally, we paired the results of the FC analyses to the geochemical data highlighting that the highest values of cell death and oxidative stress were found for isopods lived in soils with elevated bioavailable concentrations of heavy metals. The present in vivo results match well with those of our previous in vitro pollution model. Our results show that isopods are useful bioindicators providing information on the quality of environment in which they live. The assessment of the viable and functional conditions of their hepatopancreatic cells might represent a useful parameter to infer the potential stress. Starting from the FC conditions of isopod hepatopancreatic cells, we are developing an environmental quality index to be applied in field-based biomonitoring program.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11576/2750991
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