Influence of the cestode Ligula intestinalis and the acanthocephalan Polymorphus minutus on levels of heat shock proteins (HSP70) and metallothioneins in their fish and crustacean intermediate hosts.
It is a common method to analyse physiological mechanisms of organisms - commonly referred to as biomarkers - to indicate the presence of environmental pollutants. However, as biomarkers respond to a wide range of stressors we want to direct the attention on natural stressors, i.e. on parasites. After two years maintenance under controlled conditions, roach (Rutilus rutilus) revealed no influence on levels of metallothionein by the parasite Ligula intestinalis. The same was found for Gammarus fossarum infected with Polymorphus minutus. However, the heat shock protein (HSP70) response was affected in both host-parasite systems. While the infection of roach resulted in reduced levels of HSP70 compared to uninfected roach, the infection in G. fossarum led to higher levels of HSP70. We also analysed the effect of a 14 days Cd exposure (4 μg/L) on the uninfected and infected gammarids. The exposure resulted in induced levels for both, metallothionein and HSP70 whereas the combination of stressors, parasite and exposure, revealed a decrease for levels of HSP70 in comparison to the metal exposure only. Accordingly, parasites as natural parts of aquatic ecosystems have to be considered in ecotoxicological research.
['Frank|Sabrina N|SN|', 'Godehardt|Saskia|S|', 'Nachev|Milen|M|', 'Trubiroha|Achim|A|', 'Kloas|Werner|W|', 'Sures|Bernd|B|']
D000049:Acanthocephala D033304:Amphipoda D000818:Animals D015415:Biomarkers D002104:Cadmium D002589:Cestoda D003530:Cyprinidae D004784:Environmental Monitoring D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins D008668:Metallothionein D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Fish Biomarker Parasite Amphipod Metal pollution