title: Premature aging in bone of fish from a highly polluted marine area.
abstract: Fish species have attracted considerable interest in studies assessing biological responses to environmental contaminants. In this study, the attention has been focussed on fishbone of selected fish species from a highly polluted marine area, Augusta Bay (Italy, Central Mediterranean) to evaluate if toxicant elements had an effect on the mineralogical structure of bones, although macroscopic deformations were not evident. In particular, an attempt was made to evaluate if bone mineral features, such as crystallinity, mineral maturity and carbonate/phosphate mineral content, determined by XR-Diffraction and FT-IR Spectroscopy, suffered negative effects due to trace element levels in fishbone, detected by ICP-OES. Results confirmed the reliability of the use of diffractometric and spectroscopic techniques to assess the degree of crystallinity and the mineral maturity in fishbone. In addition, in highly polluted areas, Hg and Cr contamination induced a process of premature aging of fishbone, altering its biochemical and mineral contents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, Via Archirafi 36, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: giovanna.scopelliti@unipa.it.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scopelliti
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, Via Archirafi 36, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: rossella.dileonardo@unipa.it.
authors.forename: Rossella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Di Leonardo
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, Via Archirafi 36, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: cecilia.tramati@unipa.it.
authors.forename: Cecilia D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Tramati
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, Via Archirafi 36, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: antonio.mazzola@unipa.it.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazzola
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, Via Archirafi 36, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: salvatrice.vizzini@unipa.it.
authors.forename: Salvatrice
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vizzini
mesh_terms: D019588:Aging, Premature; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D002113:Calcification, Physiologic; D002857:Chromium / Q000032:analysis; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D007558:Italy; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D002857:Chromium; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Augusta Bay (Italy); Crystalline structure fishbone; FT-IR; Hydroxylapatite; Trace elements; XRD