[en] The cross-flow ultrafiltration and radiotracer techniques were used to study the influences of natural dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and colloidal organic carbon (COC) on the bioavailability of Ag, Cd, and Cr to the green mussel Perna viridis. We examined the uptake of these metals by the mussels at different concentrations of DOC and COC from different origins (estuarine, coastal, and diatom decomposed). Using the DOC originating from the decomposed diatom (Thalassiosira pseudonana), we demonstrated that Cd and Cr uptake, quantified by the concentration factor (DCF), increased linearly with increasing DOC concentration. There was, however, no consistent influence of natural DOC concentration on the metal uptake when the DOC was obtained from different sources of seawater (coastal and estuarine). The influences of COC on metal bioavailability were metal-specific and dependent on the geochemical properties of colloids and colloid-metal complexation. Cd uptake rate was not influenced by the COC concentrations. Uptake of diatom-decomposed colloidal Cr was enhanced by 3.4x, whereas the uptake of diatom-decomposed colloidal Ag was decreased by 8.2x compared with the uptake of low molecular weight Cr and Ag (<1 kDa). The uptake of diatom-decomposed colloidal Cr and Ag was generally lower than the uptake of metals bound with the same type of colloids for 2 days. Further aging of the colloid-metal binding reduced metal bioavailability to the mussels. In the presence of different sizes of colloidal particles where there was no major binding of colloids with the metals, metal uptake by the mussels was not influenced by different COC concentrations. Overall, our study suggests that although metal dissociation from colloids may be an important step for the uptake of colloidal metals, other mechanisms such as pinocytosis and co-transport may also be involved in the uptake of these metals, especially in aquatic environments with high DOC and COC concentrations. - Organic carbon influences uptake of metals by marine mussels

[en] The uptake of Cd, Se(IV) and Zn by the freshwater alga Scenedesmus obliquus and the subsequent transfer and release budget in Daphnia magna were investigated under different nutrient additions and cell incubation conditions. An increase in ambient phosphate concentrations from 0.5 μmol l^-1 to 50 μmol l^-1 significantly increased the intracellular accumulation of Cd (by 18x) and Zn (by 5x), but decreased the accumulation of Se (by 126x) in the alga. The percentage of these metals distributing in the intracellular pool of algae also increased substantially with increasing ambient P concentrations. Nitrate addition from 5.0 to 200 μmol l^-1 did not influence the uptake of any of the three metals, although a significant decrease in the intracellular Se distribution was observed. Radiolabeled algae under different nutrient manipulations (semi-continuous culture, starvation, and P-pulse treatments) were used to measure trophic transfer assimilation efficiency (AE) in Daphnia. When the algal cells were grown in a semi-continuous culture, starved for N and P, or were treated with P-pulse, the AEs of Cd and Zn were generally independent of the nutritional conditions, but the Se AE was significantly affected by different P levels. The efflux rate constants, determined during 10 d depuration following 7 days of dietary uptake, decreased significantly for Cd and Zn, but were relatively constant for Se with increasing P concentration. N-addition caused no effect on the metal efflux rate constants. P- or N-additions did not influence the release budget (including molting, neonates, excretion and feces) for all three elements in Daphnia. Our study indicated that phosphate enrichment may substantially increase metal uptake in green alga S. obliquus. Responses of trophic transfer in Daphnia to nutrient enrichment were metal specific. P-enrichment can possibly lead to considerable decrease on Se transfer from algae to zooplankton. - Phosphorous enrichment influences metal uptake by algae, but not transfer to a zooplankton grazer

No abstract available

[en] Gastrointestinal metal uptake represents a potential route for metal bioaccumulation in marine fish. Drinking of seawater for osmoregulation causes constant waterborne exposure of the gastrointestinal tract. Tissue specific Cd and Zn accumulation and distribution were investigated in juvenile black sea bream (Acanthopagrus schlegeli) exposed to waterborne Cd (5.7 nM) and Zn (2.6 nM) for 4 h-7 days. The intestine accumulated a large portion of the Cd (43-58%) and Zn (18-28%), and had the highest Cd (>1.0 nmol g^-1) and Zn (>1.8 nmol g^-1) concentrations of all body fractions, suggesting that the intestines were the major uptake sites for these waterborne metals. Among all the segments of the gastrointestinal tract, the anterior intestine played the most important role in Cd and Zn uptake. A gastrointestinal injection assay was conducted to distinguish waterborne metal uptake by the intestines and the gills. The intestine contained over 90% of the Cd in the body after depuration for 3-7 days, suggesting that little waterborne Cd entered the rest of the body through the intestine, and that Cd may exert its toxic effects on the gastrointestinal system. In contrast, intestine retained less than 20% of the total Zn after depuration, suggesting that Zn tended to be transported from the intestine to the internal tissues via the cardiovascular system. The uptake kinetics of waterborne Cd and Zn by the intestines and the gills were determined as a first-order and saturated pattern, respectively, over a wide range of ambient metal concentrations (6.2 nM-4.5 μM for Cd, and 13 nM-15 μM for Zn). An in vitro intestinal perfusion assay investigated the effects of intestinal metal composition and drinking rate on uptake. The presence of EDTA significantly reduced intestinal Zn uptake to 11%, while cysteine improved it by 59%. The intestinal Cd and Zn uptake rates were unaffected by the perfusion rate

[en] Uptake, absorption efficiency and elimination of DDT were measured in marine phytoplankton, copepods (Acartia erythraea) and fish (mangrove snappers Lutjanus argentimaculatus). The uptake rate constant of DDT from water decreased with increasing trophic level. The dietary absorption efficiency (AE) of DDT was 10-29% in copepods and 72-99% in fish. Food concentration did not significantly affect the AEs of DDT, but the AEs varied considerably among the different food diets. The elimination rate constants of DDT by the copepods were comparable following uptake from the diet and from the water. Elimination of DDT from the fish was exceedingly low. Both aqueous and dietary uptake are equally important for DDT accumulation in the copepods. In fish, dissolved exposure is a more significant route than intake from the diet. The predicted trophic transfer factors in the copepods and the fish are consistent with the field measurements in marine zooplankton and fish. -Biomagnification and exposure of DDT in a marine food chain is demonstrated by measurements of uptake and elimination rates and kinetic modeling

[en] We examined the accumulation, subcellular distribution, and toxicity of Hg(II) and MeHg in three marine phytoplankton (the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, the green alga Chlorella autotrophica, and the flagellate Isochrysis galbana). For MeHg, the inter-species toxic difference could be best interpreted by the total cellular or intracellular accumulation. For Hg(II), both I. galbana and T. pseudonana exhibited similar sensitivity, but they each accumulated a different level of Hg(II). A higher percentage of Hg(II) was bound to the cellular debris fraction in T. pseudonana than in I. galbana, implying that the cellular debris may play an important role in Hg(II) detoxification. Furthermore, heat-stable proteins were a major binding pool for MeHg, while the cellular debris was an important binding pool for Hg(II). Elucidating the different subcellular fates of Hg(II) and MeHg may help us understand their toxicity in marine phytoplankton at the bottom of aquatic food chains. - Highlights: → The inter-species toxic difference of methylmercury in marine phytoplankton can be explained by its total cellular or intracellular accumulation. → The inter-species toxic difference of inorganic mercury in marine phytoplankton can be explained by its subcellular distribution. → Heat-stable protein was a major binding pool for MeHg, while the cellular debris was an important binding pool for Hg(II). - The inter-species difference in methylmercury and inorganic mercury toxicity in phytoplankton can be explained by cellular accumulation and subcellular distribution.

[en] Different behaviors of inorganic mercury [Hg(II)] and methylmercury (MeHg) during trophic transfer along the marine food chain have been widely reported, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. The bioavailability of ingested mercury, quantified by assimilation efficiency (AE), was investigated in a marine fish, the grunt Terapon jarbua, based on mercury subcellular partitioning in prey and purified subcellular fractions of prey tissues. The subcellular distribution of Hg(II) differed substantially among prey types, with cellular debris being a major (49-57% in bivalves) or secondary (14-19% in other prey) binding pool. However, MeHg distribution varied little among prey types, with most MeHg (43-79%) in heat-stable protein (HSP) fraction. The greater AEs measured for MeHg (90-94%) than for Hg(II) (23-43%) confirmed the findings of previous studies. Bioavailability of each purified subcellular fraction rather than the proposed trophically available metal (TAM) fraction could better elucidate mercury assimilation difference. Hg(II) associated with insoluble fraction (e.g. cellular debris) was less bioavailable than that in soluble fraction (e.g. HSP). However, subcellular distribution was shown to be less important for MeHg, with each fraction having comparable MeHg bioavailability. Subcellular distribution in prey should be an important consideration in mercury trophic transfer studies.

[en] In field-collected juvenile blackhead seabream Acanthopagrus schlegeli schlegeli, measured total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations were related to 0.19 and 0.33 power of fish mass over a wide size range (more than 50-fold). The causative factors remain unclear. In this study, size-dependent biokinetic parameters for both inorganic mercury [Hg(II)] and MeHg were estimated, and their relative contributions to size-related Hg accumulation were further assessed. Except for the MeHg dietary assimilation efficiency (AE), which was not affected by the fish size, other examined biokinetic parameters showed either positive (Hg(II) AE) or negative correlations (growth rate constant-g, dissolved uptake rate constant-k_u and efflux rate constant-k_e) with fish size. The biokinetic variation explained the observed allometric pattern of Hg accumulation in juveniles. Especially, both size-related g and k_e were the key drivers. The current study addressed the importance of size-related biokinetics, in particular the k_e and g, which have important implications to manage Hg contamination in fisheries. - Highlights: ► Radioactive technique was used to quantify the size-related mercury biokinetics. ► Biokinetic variation could explain the size-dependent mercury accumulation. ► Mercury elimination rate and fish growth were the key determinants. ► Factors affecting mercury biokinetics reduce allometric mercury accumulation. - Biokinetic variations, especially the mercury elimination and growth rate, explained why Hg accumulation in fish increased with fish size.

[en] Subcellular metal distribution has received increasing attention in aquatic toxicology studies, but the relationship between metal distribution and metal biokinetics remains largely unexplored. A series of short-term experiments on different concentrations of dissolved and dietary metals and on metal elimination were conducted to investigate the dynamics of subcellular distribution of Cd and Zn in the scallop Chlamys nobilis, a bivalve species that is known to accumulate very high concentrations of Cd and Zn in its tissues. Our results showed that, in general, both Cd and Zn were sequestered in insoluble forms (organelles, metal-rich granules, and cellular debris). The main binding pool for the newly acquired metals was organelles for Cd and cellular debris for Zn. Metallothionein-like protein (MTLP) was the most important storage pool for Cd in the scallops. Storage in the non-toxic form both in organelles and MTLP instead of through exocytosis was the major detoxification strategy to control Cd and accounted for the low efflux rate of Cd from scallops. In contrast to Cd, the main binding pool for Zn was cellular debris. Significant changes were found in the scallops when they were challenged with different concentrations of metals in the aqueous and food phases. Such changes provide important information on how scallops handle metals when there is increasing metal uptake. The redistribution of Zn among each subcellular compartment was much faster than the redistribution of Cd, suggesting an effective regulation mechanism for Zn in scallops. Thus, knowing subcellular metal distribution helps in studying the toxicity of both waterborne and dietborne metals

[en] We explored the possible mechanisms leading to differential Cd sensitivity in three marine phytoplankton (the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum and the green alga Chlorella autotrophica) based on their Cd accumulation, Cd subcellular distribution, and phytochelatin (PC) synthesis. The most sensitive species, T. pseudonana, generally exhibited the highest Cd body burden and organelle (org)-Cd concentration. C. autotrophica, the most tolerant species to Cd, had the smallest org-Cd accumulation, as well as a much higher percentage of cellular debris-Cd, which may play an important role in Cd detoxification. The dinoflagellate P. minimum, with a sensitivity between the diatoms and green algae, had a comparable Cd body burden but higher percentage of org-Cd than C. autotrophica. Although the induction of PCs was dependent on the species, the intracellular (intra)-Cd/PC-SH ratio showed a strong linear log-log relationship with [Cd²⁺], suggesting that this ratio could possibly be a biomarker for environmental [Cd²⁺] stress. With the increases of the intra-Cd/PC-SH ratio, these three species of phytoplankton exhibited clearly different patterns of growth inhibition, implying that the effectiveness of PCs as a detoxification pathway is dependent on the species. The lowest intra-Cd/PC-SH toxicity threshold for T. pseudonana implied its low PC-Cd capacity. Furthermore, the sudden slowdown of growth inhibition when the intra-Cd/PC-SH ratio reached 33 implied the launch of other detoxification pathway in C. autotrophica in order to alleviate Cd toxicity. Our study demonstrated that accumulation and subcellular distribution of Cd and PC synthesis can account for the inter-species differences in Cd sensitivity in marine phytoplankton.