ARSENIC BIOACCUMULATION AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL EFECTS IN SEA BREAM (SPARUS AURATA) AFTER SHORT-EXPOSURE

Resumen

The increasing pollution by metals and metalloids in the water bodies has raised concern about toknow lheir potentialtoxicity to aquatic life. The studies are focused on metals such as Cu, Cd, Pb orHg, but biological effects caused by arsenic in fish have been few studied. lt has been showo thatcenain organisms accumulate arsenic mainly in liver, followed in tbe gills, but braín and muscle havelow concentrations ofthís metalloid; the most common damages are aneurysms and byperplasia oftheepithelium in gills and necrosis and vacuolization in liver.In this work, lhe bioaccumulation and histopatbological effects in Sea bream (Sparus aurata) aftershort-exposure to As were studied, 10 correlatc potential toxic levels of metal in water wilh biologicaleffects in fish tissues. The bioassays were carried out in laboratory and gills, muscle, liver and braintissues of Sea bream were analyzed. This specie is onc of the most importan! commercial fisb widelycultured in the Mediterranean, bcing very interesting to develop aquatic quality criteria for tbismetalloid.The results demonstrated that sublethal concentrations of 0.0076; 0.076; 0.757 and 7.575 mg/L ofarsenic were mainly accumulated in liver and gills and less in muscle and brain, causing moderatehístopathologicallesions in Ji ver. In addition, correlations among the arsenic concentrations in tissues,in water and histopathological alterations were found. lt is rcmarkable that correlations among arseoiccontent in brain and histopathological alterations were found, also showing necrosis in liver andhypertrophy and hyperplasia in gills by high content of metalloid. Therefore, lhe control of tissues ofSea bream can be a good indicator of pollution by arsenic in aquatic ecosystems.