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Toxicological responses of earthworm (Eisenia fetida) exposed to metal-contaminated soils

  • Contaminated Land, Ecological Assessment and Remediation Conference Series (CLEAR 2012) : Environmental Pollution and Risk Assessments
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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicological responses of earthworm (Eisenia fetida) induced by field-contaminated, metal-polluted soils. Biochemical responses and DNA damage of earthworm exposed to two multi-metal-contaminated soils in a steel industry park and a natural reference soil in Zijin Mountain for 2, 7, 14, and 28 days were studied. Results showed that three enzyme activities, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and cellulase, in earthworm in metal-contaminated soils were significantly different from those of the reference soil. Cellulase and AChE were more sensitive than SOD to soil contamination. The Olive tail moment of the comet assay after 2-day exposure increased 56.5 and 552.0 % in two contaminated soils, respectively, compared to the reference soil. Our findings show that cellulase and DNA damage levels can be used as potential biomarkers for exposure of earthworm to metal-polluted soils.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Support Program of Jiangsu Province (No. BE2012737), Public Sector Special Scientific Research Program of the National Environmental Protection Ministry (No. 2011467054), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21077052). The authors are grateful to Richard A. Manderville for his assistance and helpful advice.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

    Kai Zheng, YaJie Li, YiBin Cui & Mei Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environment Sciences, Beijing, 100012, People’s Republic of China

    ZhengTao Liu

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  1. Kai Zheng
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Correspondence to Mei Li.

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Zheng, K., Liu, Z., Li, Y. et al. Toxicological responses of earthworm (Eisenia fetida) exposed to metal-contaminated soils. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 8382–8390 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1689-7

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