Authors: A Itziou M Kaloyianni V K Dimitriadis
Publish Date: 2010/08/14
Volume: 60, Issue: 4, Pages: 697-707
Abstract
Heavy metals are known to induce oxidative damage by way of enhancement of intracellular reactive oxygen species ROS production which often preludes the onset of alterations such as protein carbonylation and DNA damage In this study our aim was to examine the early responses of land snails Eobania vermiculata to environmental contaminants by investigating the use of a modified enzymelinked immunosorbent assay ELISA assay for the measurement of protein carbonylation as a new biomarker of terrestrial pollution as well as by measuring ROS production and DNA damage Land snails were treated with heavy metals―cadmium lead or copper―in vivo 15 or 40 ppm for 25 days or in vitro 05 5 50 or 500 μM for 30 min in the laboratory and the previously mentioned biomarkers were determined in digestive gland and haemolymph of the treated animals A statistically significant increase in ROS production protein carbonylation and DNA damage was shown in the snails treated with pollutants compared with the untreated snails The results indicate the effectiveness of measuring ROS production and DNA damage as well as using the present ELISA method as sensitive tools of terrestrial pollution biomonitoring studies Statistically significant correlations among the previously mentioned techniques further enhance their role as promising biomarkers in terrestrial pollution studies
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