Toxicological Effects of Chlorpyrifos and Lead on the Aquatic Snail Helisoma duryi
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Date
2015-10
Authors
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Publisher
Scientific Research Publishing
Abstract
Aquatic reservoirs remain the ultimate sink of chemical pollutants emanating from anthropogenic
activities such as agriculture, mining and industry. Freshwater biota undoubtedly is at risk from
the adverse effects of these water pollutants and there is therefore, a need to monitor effects of
these chemical pollutants in order to safeguard the health of aquatic biota. We investigated the
oxidative stress effects of chlorpyrifos and lead on the freshwater snail Helisoma duryi to assess
the potential of using this enzyme system as a biondicator of exposure to environmental pollu-
tants. Groups of snails were exposed to 5 ppb lead acetate and 25 ppb chlorpyrifos for 7 days after
which half of the snails were sacrificed and the other half were allowed to recover in clean water
and sacrificed after another 7 days. Post mitochondrial fractions were used to measure the activi-
ties of the following antioxidant enzymes: superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase,
glutathione S-transferase and diphosphotriphosphodiaphorase. Both pollutants enhanced the ac-
tivities of all the antioxidant enzymes suggesting a defensive mechanism by the snail to combat
the oxidative stress due to the organophosphate chlopryrifos and metal pollutant lead. There was
a significant recovery of the antioxidant defense system of the snails allowed to recover in clean
water shown by the reduced alteration of the antioxidant enzyme activities of the snails allowed to
recover for 7 days. This suggests the need to minimize exposure of aquatic biota to chemical pol-
lutants and remediate the polluted water reservoirs in order to safeguard the health of aquatic
life.
Description
An Open Access Article on the Toxicological Effects of Chlorpyrifos and
Lead on the Aquatic Snail Helisoma duryi
Keywords
Pollutants, Snails, Oxidative-Stress, Organophosphates, Metals
Citation
Basopo, N. and Ngabaza, T. (2015) Toxicological Effects of Chlorpyrifos and Lead on the Aquatic Snail Helisoma duryi. Advances in Biological Chemistry, 5, 225-233.