Effects of the Erika oil spill on the common starfish Asterias rubens, evaluated by field and laboratory studies.
Impacts of the Erika oil spill on the common starfish Asterias rubens were investigated in the field and using laboratory experiments based on contamination via food at different stages of the starfish reproductive cycle. Two months after the shipwreck, levels of hydrocarbons characteristic of Erika fuel were significantly higher in pyloric ceca and body wall of A. rubens from a contaminated site, compared with control animals from an unpolluted reference area. Concomitant immunological responses and detoxification enzyme activity (CYP1A) were enhanced in the impacted starfish, suggesting rapid biotransformation processes. This was confirmed by laboratory experiments which showed a fast PAH uptake during the 10 first days of contamination and the start of biotransformation processes from the third day. Our study confirms benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase activity (BPH) in A. rubens and demonstrates the influence of CYP1A in the conversion of insoluble PAHs into soluble derivatives in this species for the first time. The rapidity of decontamination could explain why starfish growth, level of motile activity, reproductive investment, energy storage, and larval development were not significantly affected by these contaminants.
Joly-Turquin
Guillemette
G
Laboratoire de Biologie Marine (CP 160/15), Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Av. F.D. Roosevelt, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
Dubois
Philippe
P
Coteur
Geoffroy
G
Danis
Bruno
B
Leyzour
Sandra
S
Le Menach
Karine
K
Budzinski
Hélène
H
Guillou
Monique
M
D000818:Animals; D047271:Asterias / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development; D001711:Biotransformation; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 / Q000378:metabolism; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005602:France; D010578:Petroleum / Q000633:toxicity*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity*
D010578:Petroleum; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1