Effects of petrochemical contamination on caged marine mussels using a multi-biomarker approach: Histological changes, neurotoxicity and hypoxic stress

This work was designed to evaluate the biological effects of petrochemical contamination on marine mussels. Mytilus galloprovincialis, widely used as sentinel organisms in biomonitoring studies, were caged at the “Augusta-Melilli-Priolo” industrial site (eastern Sicily, Italy), chosen as one of the largest petrochemical areas in Europe, and Brucoli, chosen as reference site. Chemical analyses of sediments at the polluted site revealed high levels of PAHs and mercury, exceeding the national and international guideline limits. In mussels from the polluted site, severe morphological alterations were observed in gills, mainly involved in nutrient uptake and gas exchange. Changes in serotonergic and cholinergic systems, investigated through immunohistochemical, metabolomics and enzymatic approaches, were highlighted in gills, as well as onset of hypoxic adaptive responses with up-regulation of hypoxiainducible factor transcript. Overall, the application of a multi-biomarker panel results effective in assessing the biological effects of petrochemical contamination on the health of aquatic organisms.