Oxidative Stress, Cytotoxicity and Genotoxicity in Earthworm Eisenia fetida at Different Di-n-Butyl Phthalate Exposure Levels

Abstract

Recognized as ubiquitous contaminants in soil, the environmental risk of phthalic acid esters (PAEs) is of great concern recently. Effects of di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), an extensively used PAE compound to Eisenia fetida have been investigated in spiked natural brown yellow soil (Alfisol) for soil contact test. The toxicity of DnBP to E. fetida on the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, peroxidase (POD), reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, and the apoptosis of coelomocytes and DNA damage at the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th day of the incubation have been paid close attention to. In general, SOD activity and ROS content were significantly induced, opposite to total protein content and POD activity, during the toxicity test of 28 days especially under concentrations higher than 2.5 mg kg-1. The reduction in neutral red retention (NRR) time along with the increase of dead coelomocytes as the increasing of DnBP concentrations, indicating severe damage to cell viability under varying pollutant stress during cultivation, which could also be proved by comet assay results for exerting evident DNA damage in coelomocytes. DnBP in spiked natural soil could indeed cause damage to tissues, coelomocytes and the nucleus of E. fetida. The key point of the apparent change in different indices presented around 2.5 mg DnBP kg-1 soil, which could be recommended as the threshold of DnBP soil contamination, so that further investigation on threshold values to other soil animals or microorganisms could be discussed.

Toxicity of phthalate esters to lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and the soil microbial community under different soil conditions

“…Uptake and accumulation by plants is an important pathway in the migration and transformation of PAEs in the environment. The uptake of EDCs by plants is of great concern due to their potential to accumulate and to their long-term effects [19,22,23]. In 11 vegetable species collected from nine farms in the Pearl River Delta, south China, the concentrations of six PAEs ranged from 0.073 to 11.2 mg kg -1 (dry weight/DW basis) [24].…”

Toxicity effects of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate to Eisenia fetida at enzyme, cellular and genetic levels

“…They can be exposed to pollutants entering the soil through both dermal contact and ingestion [ 9 ]. Currently, in both types of coelomocyte populations, amoebocytes are more responsive and persuasive for all mitotic figures observed in terms of oxidative stress, cyto-toxicity and geno-toxicity tests of soil pollutants [ 10 ]. In addition to the standard eco-toxicity tests employing mortality and growth, more detectable responses in antioxidant chemicals, namely peroxidase (POD) activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content may be used as reliable biochemical markers in the toxicity evaluation of pollutants to assess their importance in anti-oxidative defense [ 11 , 12 ].…”

The comet assay in animal models: From bugs to whales – (Part 1 Invertebrates)

“…Besides coelomocytes as a somatic type of cells, there are also studies done on spermatogenic cells [212,213]. These species were used for the evaluation of several genotoxic agents present in soil and sediment [214,215] as well as for the genotoxicity of heavy metals [216], pesticides [217,218], radionuclides [219], peloids (natural muds) [220], flame retardants [221], naphthenic acid [222], nanomaterials [197,223,224], phthalates [225], PAHs [226] and organic compounds [227]. The DNAdamaging effects of both ionising [212,228] and non-ionising radiation [229] were also studied, indicating that both types of radiation are able to induce DNA damage and that the comet assay is a sensitive and rapid method for the detection of radiation-induced genotoxicity.…”