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Benzo(a)pyrene is an important polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) which causes carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic effects in various species and the level of contamination of this toxic agent in the marine environment is of great concern. In this study, metabolic responses induced by two doses (0.02 and 0.2μM) of BaP were characterized in the gill tissues of Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum after exposure for 24, 48 and 96h. The high dose (0.2μM) of BaP induced the disturbances in energy metabolism and osmotic regulation based on the metabolic biomarkers such as succinate, alanine, glucose, glycogen, branched chain amino acids, betaine, taurine, homarine, and dimethylamine in clam gills after 24h of exposure. In addition, hormesis induced by BaP was found in clams exposed to both doses of BaP. Overall, our results demonstrated the applicability of metabolomics for the elucidation of toxicological effects of marine environmental contaminants in a selected bioindicator species such as the Manila clam., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Copper is an important heavy metal contaminant with high ecological risk in the Bohai Sea. In this study, the metabolic responses in the bioindicator, Manila clam (Ruditapes philippinarum), to the environmentally relevant copper exposures were characterized using NMR-based metabolomics. The significant metabolic changes corresponding to copper exposures were related to osmolytes, intermediates of the Krebs cycle and amino acids, such as the increase in homarine, branched chain amino acids and decrease in succinate, alanine and dimethylamine in the copper-exposed clam gills during 96 h exposure period. Overall, Cu may lead to the disturbances in osmotic regulation and energy metabolism in clams during 96 h experimental period. These results demonstrate that NMR-based metabolomics is applicable for the discovery of metabolic biomarkers which could be used to elucidate the toxicological mechanisms of marine heavy metal contaminants., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Abstract: Benzo(a)pyrene is an important polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) which causes carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic effects in various species and the level of contamination of this toxic agent in the marine environment is of great concern. In this study, metabolic responses induced by two doses (0.02 and 0.2μM) of BaP were characterized in the gill tissues of Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum after exposure for 24, 48 and 96h. The high dose (0.2μM) of BaP induced the disturbances in energy metabolism and osmotic regulation based on the metabolic biomarkers such as succinate, alanine, glucose, glycogen, branched chain amino acids, betaine, taurine, homarine, and dimethylamine in clam gills after 24h of exposure. In addition, hormesis induced by BaP was found in clams exposed to both doses of BaP. Overall, our results demonstrated the applicability of metabolomics for the elucidation of toxicological effects of marine environmental contaminants in a selected bioindicator species such as the Manila clam. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Manila clam (Ruditapes philippinarum) has been considered a good sentinel species for metal pollution monitoring in estuarine tidal flats. Along the Bohai coast of China, there are dominantly distributed three species of clams (White, Liangdao Red and Zebra in Yantai population) endowed with distinct tolerances to environmental stressors. In this study, adductor muscle samples were collected from both control and acute mercury exposed White, Liangdao Red and Zebra clams, and the extracts were analyzed by NMR-based metabolomics to compare the metabolic profiles and responses to the acute mercury exposure to determine the most sensitive clam species capable of acting as abioindicator for heavy metal pollution monitoring. The major abundant metabolites in the White clam sample were branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine), lactate, arginine, aspartate, acetylcholine, homarine and ATP/ADP, while the metabolite profile of Zebra clam sample comprised high levels of glutamine, acetoacetate, betaine, taurine and one unidentified metabolite. For the Liangdao Red clam sample, the metabolite profile relatively exhibited high amount of branched-chain amino acids, arginine, glutamate, succinate, acetylcholine, homarine and two unassigned metabolites. After 48h exposure of 20μgL−1 Hg2+, the metabolic profiles showed significant differences between three clam species, which included increased lactate, succinate, taurine, acetylcholine, betaine and homarine and decreased alanine, arginine, glutamine, glutamate, acetoacetate, glycine and ATP/ADP in White clam samples, and elevated succinate, taurine and acetylcholine, and declined glutamine, glycine, and aspartate in Liangdao Red clam samples, while the increased branched-chain amino acids, lactate, succinate, acetylcholine and homarine, and reduced alanine, acetoacetate, glycine and taurine were observed in the Zebra clam samples. Overall, our findings showed that White clams could be a preferable bioindicator for the metal pollution monitoring based on the more sensitive metabolic changes in the adductor muscle compared with other two (Liangdao Red and Zebra) clam species. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]