Seasonal variation of histopathological and histochemical markers of PAH exposure in blue mussel ( L.)

Nadia Aarab (1) , Brit F. Godal (1) , Renée K. Bechmann (1)

1 International Research Institute of Stavanger (IRIS)

The aim of this work was to study seasonal variation of histopathological and histochemical markers in blue mussels ( L.) exposed to pyrogenic PAH contaminants. Mussels were collected in January, June, September and October from a sampling site in the vicinity of the discharge from an aluminium smelter and from a clean reference site. Histopathological analysis was carried out on the digestive gland (DG) and the gonads, lipofuscin and neutral lipids were analysed in the DG. Clear responses in lipofuscin and neutral lipids were detected in the DG of mussels collected from the polluted site at some sampling times. Moreover, these mussels presented atrophy in digestive tubules and haemocytic aggregates in the gonad and DG. However, in all parameters studied, the magnitude of the response showed clear seasonal variation.

Mots clés: Histopathology; neutral lipid; lipofuscin; PAH; Mytilus edulis; seasonal variation

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Nadia Aarab, Brit F. Godal, Renée K. Bechmann. Seasonal variation of histopathological and histochemical markers of PAH exposure in blue mussel ( L.). Marine Environmental Research, 2011, 71 (3), pp.213. ⟨10.1016/j.marenvres.2011.01.005⟩. ⟨hal-00673197⟩