Tracing platinum accumulation kinetics in oyster Crassostrea gigas, a sentinel species in coastal marine environments

12 páginas, 4 figuras, 2 tablas.-- Melina Abdou ... et al.
Platinum Group Elements (PGEs) are extremely scarce in the Earth's Crust and of strong interest for high-end technologies due to their specific properties. They belong to the Technology Critical Elements (TCEs) for which use is forecast to increase, implying growing emissions into the environment in the following years. In particular, with the intensive use of platinum (Pt) in car catalytic converters, the anthropogenic geochemical cycle of this element has surpassed the natural cycle. Yet, environmental Pt levels are still in the sub picomolar range, making its analytical detection a challenge. Few studies cover the behavior of Pt in marine waters in terms of speciation, reactivity and possible transfer to the biota. In this study, oysters (Crassostrea gigas) from an unpolluted estuary were exposed to the stable isotope 194Pt in seawater at a range of concentrations during 35 days. Seawater was renewed daily and spiked to three nominal Pt concentrations (50, 100, and 10,000 ng·L− 1) for two replicate series. In addition, control conditions were monitored. Five oysters from each tank were dissected after 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 days of Pt exposure, and analyzed by ICP-MS. Accuracy of this analytical method applied to biological matrix was checked by an inter-method comparison with a voltammetrical technique. A concentration-dependent accumulation of Pt in oysters increasing with exposure time occurred. After 28 days, oyster Pt accumulation from low and intermediate exposure conditions reached a plateau. This was not the case of the highest exposure condition for which oyster tissues showed increasing concentrations until the last day of the experiment. A linear correlation exists between seawater concentrations and Pt content in oysters for low and intermediate exposure concentrations i.e. closer to environmental concentrations. By showing high Pt accumulation potential, oysters may serve as sentinels, ensuring biomonitoring of Pt concentrations in marine coastal waters
This work has benefited from the support by the FEDER Aquitaine-1999-Z0061, the Agence de l'Eau Adour-Garonne32022123 and 31033111, the COST Action TD1407, and the EU FP7 Ocean 2013.2 Project SCHeMA (Project-Grant Agreement 614002), which is gratefully acknowledged. M. Abdou has benefited of an IdEx University of Bordeaux mobility grant