Molecular ecotoxicological effect of CuO nanoparticles stress on Bellamya aeruginosa

Abstract

In this research, responsive sensitivities of hepatopancreatic Na+, K+-ATPase, malondialdehyde (MDA) and heat shock protein 70 family (HSP70) in Bellamya aeruginosa to CuO nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) were investigated through sediment bioassay, potential molecular ecotoxicological mechanism of CuO-NPs stress on Bellamya aeruginosa was explored, and feasibility of Na+, K+-ATPase, MDA and HSP70 as biomarkers for CuO-NPs contaminated sediment was evaluated. The results showed that under the stress of CuO-NPs, three molecular biomarkers displayed significant concentration- and time-effect relationships. After exposure to contaminated sediment with different concentrations of CuO-NPs, the Na+, K+-ATPase activity initially increased and then deceased; the content of low MDA initially increased and then deceased as well, while the content of high MDA showed a fluctuated trend. For HSP70, short exposure time (3 d) induced a sharp increase in HSP70 expression, but long exposure time had little effect on HSP70 expression. It demonstrated that the hepatopancreatic Na+, K+-ATPase activity and MDA content showed good sensitivity to CuO-NPs stress, whereas HSP70 only responded to CuO-NPs stress within short exposure time. HSP70 may be not a suitable long-term biomarker for CuO-NPs stress.