Effects of the UV filter ensulizole on general stress tolerance and cellular stress responses of mussels from the Baltic sea.
Supervisors: Inna Sokolova (University of Rostock)
Organic UV filters have emerged as a new threat to marine organisms, butecotoxicological studies have so far focused on only a few substances despite thechemical diversity of sunscreen agents. This study sought to examine the effects ofensulizole, a nonlipophilicUV filter commonly found in the Baltic Sea, on general stresstolerance and cellular stress responses of blue mussels Mytilusedulis. Mussels wereexposed for three weeks to five concentrations of ensulizole, 10 ng/L, 100 ng/L, 1 μg/L,10 μg/L, and 100 μg/L. Stress on stress response was evaluated by subjecting musselsto aerial exposure. Biochemical markers including the activities of carboxylesterases(CES), NADPHcytochromeP450 reductase (CPR), glutathione Stransferase(GST), andglutathione reductase (GR), lipid peroxidation (LPO), and protein carbonylation (PC) weremeasured in the gills and digestive gland of mussels. Ensulizole increased the risk of deathin aerial exposure;mussels exposed to the lowest ensulizole concentration (10 ng/L) were7 times more likely to die than controls. Ensulizolewas found to induce nonconcentrationdependent responses in cellular markers, particularly the significant suppression of GRactivity at concentrations of 100 ng/L and 100 μg/L. These data suggest that the complexeffects of ensulizole at the cellular level had been translated to the reduced tolerance tostressful conditions.