title: Influence of mussel biological variability on pollution biomarkers.
abstract: This study deals with the identification and characterization of biological variables that may affect some of the biological responses used as pollution biomarkers. With this aim, during the 2012 mussel survey of the Spanish Marine Pollution monitoring program (SMP), at the North-Atlantic coast, several quantitative and qualitative biological variables were measured (corporal and shell indices, gonadal development and reserves composition). Studied biomarkers were antioxidant enzymatic activities (CAT, GST, GR), lipid peroxidation (LPO) and the physiological rates integrated in the SFG biomarker (CR, AE, RR). Site pollution was considered as the chemical concentration in the whole tissues of mussels. A great geographical variability was observed for the biological variables, which was mainly linked to the differences in food availability along the studied region. An inverse relationship between antioxidant enzymes and the nutritional status of the organism was evidenced, whereas LPO was positively related to nutritional status and, therefore, with higher metabolic costs, with their associated ROS generation. Mussel condition was also inversely related to CR, and therefore to SFG, suggesting that mussels keep an "ecological memory" from the habitat where they have been collected. No overall relationship was observed between pollution and biomarkers, but a significant overall effect of biological variables on both biochemical and physiological biomarkers was evidenced. It was concluded that when a wide range of certain environmental factors, as food availability, coexist in the same monitoring program, it determines a great variability in mussel populations which mask the effect of contaminants on biomarkers.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Murcia, Varadero 1, 30740 San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: González-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Murcia, Varadero 1, 30740 San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: marina.albentosa@mu.ieo.es.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albentosa
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Murcia, Varadero 1, 30740 San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Campillo
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Viñas
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fumega
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Angeles
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Besada
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: González-Quijano
authors.affiliation: Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bellas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000187:drug effects; D049878:Mytilus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D013030:Spain; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D015415:Biomarkers; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Antioxidant biomarkers; Biological variability; Biomonitoring; Confounding factors; Mussels; Physiological biomarkers