title: The sperm motility pattern in ecotoxicological tests. The CRYO-Ecotest as a case study.
abstract: Changes in environmental stressors inevitably lead to an increasing need for innovative and more flexible monitoring tools. The aim of this work has been the characterization of the motility pattern of the cryopreserved sea bream semen after exposure to a dumpsite leachate sample, for the identification of the best representative parameters to be used as endpoints in an ecotoxicological bioassay. Sperm motility has been evaluated either by visual and by computer-assisted analysis; parameters concerning motility on activation and those describing it in the times after activation (duration parameters) have been assessed, discerning them in terms of sensitivity, reliability and methodology of assessment by means of multivariate analyses. The EC50 values of the evaluated endpoints ranged between 2.3 and 4.5ml/L, except for the total motile percentage (aTM, 7.0ml/L), which proved to be the less sensitive among all the tested parameters. According to the multivariate analyses, a difference in sensitivity among "activation" endpoints in respect of "duration" ones can be inferred; on the contrary, endpoints seem to be equally informative either describing total motile sperm or the rapid sub-population, as well as the assessment methodology seems to be not discriminating. In conclusion, the CRYO-Ecotest is a multi-endpoint bioassay that can be considered a promising innovative ecotoxicological tool, characterized by a high plasticity, as its endpoints can be easy tailored each time according to the different needs of the environmental quality assessment programs.
authors: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze Marine, UOS Lesina (FG), Italy. Electronic address: adele.fabbrocini@fg.ismar.cnr.it.
authors: Adele
authors: A
authors: Fabbrocini
authors: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze Marine, UOS Lesina (FG), Italy.
authors: Raffaele
authors: R
authors: D'Adamo
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi Federico II, Napoli, Italy.
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Del Prete
authors: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze Marine, UOS Lesina (FG), Italy.
authors: Daniela
authors: D
authors: Maurizio
authors: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze Marine, UOS Lesina (FG), Italy.
authors: Antonietta
authors: A
authors: Specchiulli
authors: Instituto Oceanográfico - USP, São Paulo, Brazil; The Capes Foundation - Ministry of Education of Brazil, Brasília, DF, Brazil.
authors: Luis F J
authors: LF
authors: Oliveira
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi Federico II, Napoli, Italy; FIPERJ - Fundação Instituto de Pesca do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Centro Angra dos Reis (RJ), Brazil.
authors: Fausto
authors: F
authors: Silvestri
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi Federico II, Napoli, Italy.
authors: Giovanni
authors: G
authors: Sansone
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods; D015925:Cryopreservation; D054750:Ecotoxicology / Q000379:methods*; D023381:Endpoint Determination; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D021541:Sea Bream; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry; D012662:Semen Preservation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000187:drug effects*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Computer-assessed sperm motility analysis; Cryopreservation; Dumpsite leachate; Ecotoxicological tests; Multivariate analyses; Sea bream