Successive Onset of Molecular, Cellular and Tissue-Specific Responses in Midgut Gland of Littorina littorea Exposed to Sub-Lethal Cadmium Concentrations

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most harmful metals, being toxic to most animal species, including marine invertebrates. Among marine gastropods, the periwinkle (Littorina littorea) in particular can accumulate high amounts of Cd in its midgut gland. In this organ, the metal can elicit extensive cytological and tissue-specific alterations that may reach, depending on the intensity of Cd exposure, from reversible lesions to pathological cellular disruptions. At the same time, Littorina littorea expresses a Cd-specific metallothionein (MT) that, due to its molecular features, expectedly exerts a protective function against the adverse intracellular effects of this metal. The aim of the present study was, therefore, to assess the time course of MT induction in the periwinkle’s midgut gland on the one hand, and cellular and tissue-specific alterations in the digestive organ complex (midgut gland and digestive tract) on the other, upon exposure to sub-lethal Cd concentrations (0.25 and 1 mg Cd/L) over 21 days. Depending on the Cd concentrations applied, the beginning of alterations of the assessed parameters followed distinct concentration-dependent and time-dependent patterns, where the timeframe for the onset of the different response reactions became narrower at higher Cd concentrations compared to lower exposure concentrations.

Tissue-Specific Biomarker Responses in the Blue Mussel Mytilus spp. Exposed to a Mixture of Microplastics at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations

“…Aouini et al (2018) measured an increase in SOD activity in gills but not in digestive gland from clams Ruditapes philippinarum exposed to lead (10 µg L −1 ) for 14 days. Tissue-specific responses can be linked to differential bioaccumulation, concentration-dependent or time-dependent patterns (Benito et al, 2017).…”

Toxicological evaluation of engineered layered double hydroxide nanomaterials to Biomphalaria alexandrina snails: a study on the mechanism of action

“…A slightly increase of caspase-3 activity was detected as unspeci c response to LDH stress. Its elevation was observed previously in apoptotic cells (Elmore, 2007;Florentin and Arama, 2012), and this elevation may be due to cytological changes in the digestive gland of LDH-stressed snails (Zaldibar et al, 2007a(Zaldibar et al, , 2007bHödl et al 2010;Benito et al, 2017). Previously, increasing in caspase-3 activity has been detected in L. stagnalis in response to pollutant stress ((Gnatyshyna et al 2020).…”

Challenging the Metallothionein (MT) Gene of Biomphalaria glabrata: Unexpected Response Patterns Due to Cadmium Exposure and Temperature Stress

“…Even the highly fluctuating transcription levels of MT mRNA during the first 8 days of exposure (with single values significantly above and below control levels on days 4 and 8, respectively) do not vary much the impression that the long-running trend of MT mRNA induction through the whole exposure period remains unaffected by Cd exposure ( Figure 5 A). In fact, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for the time-dependent mRNA expression curve of the Cd exposure group failed to indicate any significance and overall, the fluctuating time pattern of upregulation does not seem to reflect a typical induction pattern as observed for MT genes of other gastropod species [ 14 , 39 , 42 ].…”