Cellular hepatopancreatic reactions in Porcellio scaber (Isopoda) as biomarkers for the evaluation of heavy metal toxicity in soils

Diplopods as Bioindicators of Soils: Analysis of Midgut of Individuals Maintained in Substract Containing Sewage Sludge

“…In comparison with other studies using microarthropods of soil such as P. scaber (Isopoda; Köhler et al 1996) and Tetrodontophora bielanensis (Collembola) (Pawert et al 1996), there was observed an increase in number of granules that was considered dose dependent. In this work it was not found an association between the quantity of contaminants and the increase of globules in the cytoplasm of fat body cells.…”

“…In a work studying the reaction of the hepatopancreas cells of the isopod Porcellio scaber to different types of metals, Köhler et al (1996) observed that when P. scaber individuals were exposed to substrates containing 100 mg of cadmium, in S type cells appeared structures similar to lysosomes, which contained electron-dense material and seemed to be composed by homogeneous material, these reactions also appeared in individuals exposed to 1,000 mg of lead or 5,000 mg of zinc. The globules observed in the ultra-structure are more similar to the structures seen in cells of individuals exposed to substrate containing cadmium, but we cannot affirm anything about the existence or not of this metal in the sludge.…”

Toxicokinetics of Ag in the terrestrial isopod Porcellionides pruinosus exposed to Ag NPs and AgNO3 via soil and food

“…Woodlice are acknowledged metal macro-accumulators (Udovic et al, 2009) with the midgut tubules, referred to as the hepatopancreas, serving as the main metal depository (Köhler et al, 1996). The tubules are comprised of two distinct types of epithelial cells: small pyramidal 'S'-cells containing Cu and sulphur-rich organelles, referred to as 'cuprosomes', with lysosome-like properties Moreover, these authors deployed transmission electron microscopy to examine the hepatopancreas and corroborated our findings that aggregates of intact nanoparticles are absent within the epithelia.…”

Bioindicators and Biomarkers in the Assessment of Soil Toxicity

“…Metals are the main toxic agents evaluated using Isopoda, since these invertebrates bioaccumulate these elements. In this sense, researchers have carried out studies on bioaccumulation (Blanusa et al, 2002;Hopkin et al, 1993), the cytotoxic effect of metals (Köhler et al, 1996a;Odendaal & Reinecke, 2003) and the detoxification mechanisms (Hopkin, 1990;Köhler & Triebskorn, 1998) and the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber is the most studied. The importance of diplopods in the recycling of nutrients, aeration and fertilization of soil is frequently mentioned in the literature (Dangerfield & Telford, 1989).…”