title: Quantification of metallothioneins in the earthworm by lomefloxacin-europium(iii) fluorescent probe.
abstract: A new fluorimetric method was established for the determination of trace amounts of metallothioneins (MT) in earthworm, using a lomefloxacin-europium(iii) (LMLX-Eu(3+)) complex as a fluorescent probe. In a pH 6.5 Tris-HCl buffer solution, MT can markedly decrease the fluorescence intensity of LMLX-Eu(3+) at λ = 613 nm, and the magnitude of the decrease in this intensity was in direct proportion to the concentration of MT. The linear range was 0.08-20 mg L(-1) with a detection limit of 0.022 mg L(-1), and the recovery was in the range of 91.9-104.4%. The results show that the fluorimetric method is relatively accurate and sensitive to measurements of concentration for MT over a wide range. This method has been successfully applied to the determination of the concentration of MT induced by heavy metal ions (Cd(2+), Pb(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+)) in Eisenia andrei. The amount of MT increased significantly in a dose-dependent manner to the heavy-metal exposure, and these proteins can be used as biomarkers to assess the impact of heavy-metal contamination in soils. The method offered high sensitivity as well as accuracy with simple instrumentation and is suitable for direct quantification of total MT in Eisenia andrei.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Hebei University, Key Laboratory of Analytical Science and Technology of Hebei Province, Baoding 071002, P. R. China. liangsx168@126.com.
authors.forename: Meng-Jiao
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Shu-Xuan
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005063:Europium / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D024841:Fluoroquinolones / Q000737:chemistry*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000032:analysis*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000737:chemistry*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D024841:Fluoroquinolones; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D005063:Europium; D008668:Metallothionein; C053091:lomefloxacin