title: The use of biomarkers in biomonitoring: a 2-tier approach assessing the level of pollutant-induced stress syndrome in sentinel organisms.
abstract: The paper outlines a 2-tier approach for wide-scale biomonitoring programmes. To obtain a high level of standardization, we suggest the use of caged organisms (mussels or fish). An "early warning", highly sensitive, low-cost biomarker is employed in tier 1 (i.e. lysosomal membrane stability (LMS) and survival rate, a marker for highly polluted sites). Tier 2 is used only for animals sampled at sites in which LMS changes are evident and there is no mortality, with a complete battery of biomarkers assessing the levels of pollutant-induced stress syndrome. Possible approaches for integrating biomarker data in a synthetic index are discussed, along with our proposal to use a recently developed Expert System. The latter system allows a correct selection of biomarkers at different levels of biological organisation (molecular/cellular/tissue/organism) taking into account trends in pollutant-induced biomarker changes (increasing, decreasing, bell-shape). A selection of biomarkers of stress, genotoxicity and exposure usually employed in biomonitoring programmes is presented, together with a brief overview of new biomolecular approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Life Sciences (DiSAV), University of Piemonte Orientale, Via Bellini 25/G 15100 Alessandria, Italy. viarengo@unipmn.it
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viarengo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bolognesi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fabbri
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koehler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D004249:DNA Damage; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005399:Fishes; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000187:drug effects; D008136:Longevity / Q000187:drug effects; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000187:drug effects; D009153:Mutagens / Q000633:toxicity; D049880:Mytilus edulis; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects*; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D009153:Mutagens; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical