Comparative intestinal esterases amongst passerine species: Assessing vulnerability to toxic chemicals in a phylogenetically explicit context.
Inhibition of blood esterase activities by organophosphate (OP) pesticides has been used as a sensitive biomarker in birds. Furthermore, compared to mammalian vertebrates, less is known about the role of these enzyme activities in the digestive tracts of non-mammalian vertebrates, as well as the environmental and biological stressors that contribute to their natural variation. To fill this gap, we examined butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and carboxylesterases (CbE) in the digestive tracts of sixteen passerine species from central Chile. Whole intestine enzyme activities were positively and significantly correlated with body mass. After correcting for body mass and phylogenetic effect, we found only a marginal effect of dietary category on BChE activity, but a positive and significant association between the percentage of dietary nitrogen and the mass-corrected lipase activity. Our results suggest that observed differences may be due to the dietary composition in the case of lipases and BChE, and also we predict that all model species belonging to the same order will probably respond differently to pesticide exposure, in light of differences in the activity levels of esterase activities.
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Chile.
Cristobal
C
Narvaez
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Chile.
Natalia
N
Ramirez-Otarola
Departmento de Ecología, Center of Applied Ecology & Sustainability (CAPES), Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 6513677 Santiago, Chile.
Francisco
F
Bozinovic
Laboratorio de Ecotoxicología, Faculad de Ciencias Ambientales y Bioquímica, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain.
Juan C
JC
Sanchez-Hernandez
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Chile; Departmento de Ecología, Center of Applied Ecology & Sustainability (CAPES), Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 6513677 Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: psabat@uchile.cl.
Pablo
P
Sabat
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001717:Birds / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D002091:Butyrylcholinesterase; D002677:Chile; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D004950:Esterases; D007306:Insecticides / Q000633:toxicity; D007422:Intestines; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000633:toxicity; D010575:Pesticides / Q000633:toxicity; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity
D015415:Biomarkers; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007306:Insecticides; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; D010575:Pesticides; D004950:Esterases; D002091:Butyrylcholinesterase
Birds; Carboxylesterase; Diet; Lipase; Organophosphorus pesticides