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Recent Advances in the Use of Biomarkers as an Ecotoxicology...
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Recent Advances in the Use of Biomarkers as an Ecotoxicology Set of Tools

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 6167

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carlos Gravato

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: ecotoxicology; biomarkers; ecophysiology; animal physiology; stress biology; oxidative stress; cellular energy allocation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Fabianne Ribeiro

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CESAM & Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: biomarkers of energy metabolism; bioaccumulation and toxicokinetics; microplastic uptake; (eco)toxicology of biomicroplastics; pesticide adsorption on (bio)microplastics; anticancer agents in the environment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the term environmental biomarker was first used back in the 1990s, the concept has been the focus of intense debate. The development and application of biomarkers as tools to study early warning organisms’ response to environmental pollution has become crucial to understand some response patterns as well as to define modes of action of certain chemical compounds. Some biomarkers of great ecological relevance are related to the immune response, oxidative stress, genotoxicity, energy metabolism, endocrine disruption, genotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and behavioral changes. More recently, the use of a battery of defense and damage biomarkers has allowed us not only to evaluate the single effects of chemical compounds on organisms but also effects induced by chemical mixtures, including those of microplastics acting as vectors for organic and inorganic contaminants. In addition, recent research has been using the information generated by the analysis of biomarkers in areas such as animal physiology, aquaculture, nutrition, and biotechnology. Thus, we are inviting research studies presenting novel aspects of biomarker application in ecotoxicology, studies of comparative physiology, and proposals of novel methodologies and approaches to link individually measured biomarkers with higher levels of biological organization.

Dr. Carlos Gravato
Dr. Fabianne Ribeiro
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biomarkers of damage
  • biomarkers of defense and tolerance
  • metabolism
  • genotoxicity
  • oxidative stress
  • antioxidants
  • allocation of energy
  • ecotoxicogenomics
  • immunotoxicity
  • endocrine disruption
  • comparative physiology

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2853 KiB  
Article
Does Fipronil Affect on Aquatic Organisms? Physiological, Biochemical, and Histopathological Alterations of Non-Target Freshwater Mussel Species
by Pınar Arslan and Aysel Çağlan Günal
Water 2023, 15(2), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15020334 - 13 Jan 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2520
Abstract
Fipronil is widely used against insects in agriculture and ectoparasites in domestic areas and veterinary medicine. However, fipronil may influence non-target species as a result of the contamination of aquatic ecosystems. The present study aimed to investigate the acute and sublethal effects of [...] Read more.
Fipronil is widely used against insects in agriculture and ectoparasites in domestic areas and veterinary medicine. However, fipronil may influence non-target species as a result of the contamination of aquatic ecosystems. The present study aimed to investigate the acute and sublethal effects of fipronil in freshwater mussels (Unio delicatus), a non-target species, with physiological, antioxidant action mechanisms and histopathological observations. The 96-h LC50 value of fipronil was found to be 2.64 (1.45–4.56) mg/L. Sublethal concentrations were applied at 1/10 and 1/5 of 96-h LC50 as 0.264 mg/L and 0.528 mg/L for 48-h and 7-d. Haemolymph samples, digestive gland and gill tissues of mussels were taken after exposure times. While the Total Haemocyte Counts decreased in 48-h of exposure, it was only high at 0.264 mg/L fipronil-exposed for 7-d (p < 0.05). While glutathione values in digestive glands and gills were higher in the fipronil applied groups (p < 0.05), the AOPP values were only higher in the digestive glands at 7-d of exposure (p < 0.05). Moreover, fipronil caused histopathological alterations on gills and digestive glands. These things considered, the principal component analysis revealed that the most pronounced changes in the antioxidant action mechanisms were caused by the fipronil exposure. These results show that sublethal concentrations of fipronil are toxic to freshwater mussels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Use of Biomarkers as an Ecotoxicology Set of Tools)
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13 pages, 1334 KiB  
Article
Skin Mucus as a Relevant Low-Invasive Biological Matrix for the Measurement of an Acute Stress Response in Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
by Lorena Franco-Martinez, Irene Brandts, Felipe Reyes-López, Lluís Tort, Asta Tvarijonaviciute and Mariana Teles
Water 2022, 14(11), 1754; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14111754 - 30 May 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2872
Abstract
Skin mucus is a non-lethal and low-invasive matrix appropriate to assess fish welfare as it contributes to their defence against external aggressions and reflects changes in fish health status. However, more information on the response of this matrix to specific stressors is needed. [...] Read more.
Skin mucus is a non-lethal and low-invasive matrix appropriate to assess fish welfare as it contributes to their defence against external aggressions and reflects changes in fish health status. However, more information on the response of this matrix to specific stressors is needed. In this study, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) specimens were subjected to an acute stress by air exposure and sampled after 1, 6, and 24 h post-stress. Blood and skin mucus were collected, and a battery of biochemical biomarkers were measured in both matrices. Cortisol and glucose values showed the expected classical stress response in plasma, increasing after the acute stress. The same pattern was observed in skin mucus, corroborating previous data in fish, and allowing us to confirm that skin mucus can be a useful complementary matrix for stress assessment in fish. The results showed sensitivity to hypoxic stress in skin mucus for cortisol, glucose, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatinine kinase (CK), and calcium. From the 15 parameters evaluated, 12 did not show statistically significant changes between plasma and mucus; therefore, using skin mucus cannot replace the use of plasma. Finally, the principal component analysis in skin mucus revealed a complete separation between the two experimental groups, being ALP, AST, glucose, cortisol, and CK, the biomarkers that contributed the most to this separation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Use of Biomarkers as an Ecotoxicology Set of Tools)
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