Physiological traits of land snails Theba pisana as simple endpoints to assess the exposure to some pollutants

Abstract

In the current study, the toxicity bioassay of three pollutants abamectin (ABM), thiamethoxam (TMX), and acrylamide (ACR) against land snails Theba pisana was measured. Also, the ecotoxicological effects of dietary exposure to sublethal concentration (1/20 LC₅₀) of these pollutants for 2-week exposure and 1-week recovery on some physiological endpoints evaluated as feeding activity, growth response, and carbonic anhydrase activity as a marker in charge of shell formation and seromucoid level as a marker in charge of mucus synthesis of the snails were studied. The results exhibited that the 48-h LC₅₀ values were 0.91, 313.8, and 45.7 μg/g dry food for ABM, TMX, and ACR, respectively. The sublethal concentrations of these pollutants in the diet after 2-week exposure were found to reduce the food consumption and inhibit growth rate of the snails. Also, the data illustrated that carbonic anhydrase activity was significantly decreased. On the other hand, there was a significant increase in the seromucoid level as a marker responsible for mucus synthesis in ABM- and TMX-exposed snails, while ACR showed significantly decreased level when compared to control. After 1-week recovery, the tested endpoints of treated snails were slightly repaired but still less than that of the untreated animals. The overall outcome of this investigation suggests the utility of this animal as a good bioindicator organism for ABM, TMX, and ACR exposure in pollution monitoring studies.

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