O:N ratio of cadmium contaminated mussels Mytilus edulis
Langer, A.; Daemers-Lambert, C.; Bouquegneau, J.-M. (1993). O:N ratio of cadmium contaminated mussels Mytilus edulis. Belg. J. Zool. 123(Suppl. 1): 42
In: Belgian Journal of Zoology. Koninklijke Belgische Vereniging voor Dierkunde = Société royale zoologique de Belgique: Gent. ISSN 0777-6276; e-ISSN 2295-0451, meer
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| Auteurs | | Top |
- Langer, A.
- Daemers-Lambert, C.
- Bouquegneau, J.-M., meer
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| Abstract |
A diminution of the O:N ratio (consumed oxygen versus excreted nitrogen) can be used as a stress index (1). In this work, we have studied the effect of cadmium (2 ppm in the medium for 10 days) on the O:N ratio of mussels Mytilus edulis. During the first six days of contamination, the Cd accumulation appeared to be mainly regulated by mechanisms involved in the homeostasis of Cu and Zn, after what Cd was specifically bound to metalloproteins exhibiting apparent molecular weight of 30.000 (probably polymers of Cd-thioneins). We observed a concomittant increase of the O:N ratio and a synthesis of the Cd- binding proteins in response to the metal stress. In this case, the concept of a decrease of the O:N ratio with a pollutant stress becomes very debatable.(1) B.L. BA YNE, D.A. BROWN, K. BURNS, D.R. DIXON, A. IV ANOVICI, D.R. LIVINGSTONE, D.M. LOWE, M.N. MOCRE, A.R.D. STEBBING and J. WillDOWS (1985). The effects of stress and pollution on marine animals. Publ. by Praeger Publishers. |
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