title: Heavy rare earth elements affect early life stages in Paracentrotus lividus and Arbacia lixula sea urchins.
abstract: Heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) have been scarcely studied for their toxicity, in spite of their applications in several technologies. Thus HREEs require timely investigations for their adverse health effects.
  
  
  
  Paracentrotus lividus and Arbacia lixula embryos and sperm were exposed to trichloride salts of five HREEs (Dy, Ho, Er, Yb and Lu) and to Ce(III) as a light REE (LREE) reference to evaluate: 1) developmental defects (% DD) in HREE-exposed larvae or in the offspring of HREE-exposed sperm; 2) mitotic anomalies; 3) fertilization success; and 4) reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, and nitric oxide (NO) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Nominal HREE concentrations were confirmed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
  
  
  
  HREEs induced concentration-related DD increases in P. lividus and A. lixula larvae, ranging from no significant DD increase at 10-7M HREEs up to ≅100% DD at 10-5M HREE. Larvae exposed to 10-5M Ce(III) resulted in less severe DD rates compared to HREEs. Decreased mitotic activity and increased aberration rates were found in HREE-exposed P. lividus embryos. Significant increases in ROS formation and NO levels were found both in HREE-exposed and in Ce(III) embryos, whereas only Ce(III), but not HREEs resulted in significant increase in MDA levels. Sperm exposure to HREEs (10-5-10-4M) resulted in a concentration-related decrease in fertilization success along with increase in offspring damage. These effects were significantly enhanced for Dy(III), Ho(III), Er(III) and Yb(III), compared to Lu(III) and to Ce(III).
  
  
  
  HREE-associated toxicity affected embryogenesis, fertilization, cytogenetic and redox endpoints showing different toxicities of tested HREEs.
authors.affiliation: Ege University, Faculty of Fisheries, TR-35100 Bornova, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Rahime
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oral
authors.affiliation: "Federico II" University of Naples, Department of Chemical Sciences, I-80126 Naples, Italy; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy. Electronic address: gbpagano@tin.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pagano
authors.affiliation: "Federico II" University of Naples, Department of Biology, I-80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siciliano
authors.affiliation: "Federico II" University of Naples, Department of Biology, I-80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gravina
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palumbo
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Immacolata
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Castellano
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Oriana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Migliaccio
authors.affiliation: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Science & Technology Branch, National Wildlife Research Center - Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0H3.
authors.forename: Philippe J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: "Federico II" University of Naples, Department of Biology, I-80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guida
authors.affiliation: University of Bari, Department of Biology, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Franca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tommasi
authors.affiliation: "Federico II" University of Naples, Department of Chemical Sciences, I-80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trifuoggi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D047308:Arbacia / Q000187:drug effects*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005306:Fertilization / Q000187:drug effects*; D007558:Italy; D007814:Larva / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000633:toxicity*; D047328:Paracentrotus / Q000187:drug effects*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects*; D014421:Turkey; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Cytogenetic anomalies; Heavy rare earth elements; Redox endpoints; Sea urchins