Ecotoxicology

, Volume 18, Issue 5, pp 610–619 | Cite as

Metals and linear alkylbenzene sulphonate as inhibitors of the algae Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata acid phosphatase activity

  • Claudio Martín Jonsson
  • Lourival Costa Paraiba
  • Hiroshi Aoyama
Article
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Accepted:

Abstract

Sewage sludge applied to soils as a fertilizer often contains metals and linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) as contaminants. These pollutants can be transported to the aquatic environment where they can alter the phosphatase activity in living organisms. The acid phosphatase of algae plays important roles in metabolism such as decomposing organic phosphate into free phosphate and autophagic digestive processes. The order of in vitro inhibition of Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata acid phosphatase at the highest concentration tested was LAS > Hg2+ = Al3+ > Se4+ = Pb2+ > Cd2+. A non-competitive inhibition mechanism was obtained for Hg2+ (K i  = 0.040 mM) and a competitive inhibition for LAS (K i  = 0.007 mM). In vivo studies with treated algae cultures showed that the inhibition of specific activity was observed in algae exposed during 7 days, in contrast to short term (24 h) treatments with both these chemicals. Our results suggest that the inhibition parameters in vitro did not markedly differ between the two chemicals. On the other hand, in vivo evaluations showed strong differences between both pollutants regarding the concentration values and the degree of response.

Keywords

Mercury Toxicity Enzyme Pollutant Selenastrum capricornutum Phytoplankton 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa). We are grateful to Dr. Ladalav Sodek (Instituto de Biologia, UNICAMP) for helpful discussions and for critically reading the manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Claudio Martín Jonsson
    • 1
  • Lourival Costa Paraiba
    • 1
  • Hiroshi Aoyama
    • 2
  1. 1.Embrapa Meio AmbienteJaguariúnaBrazil
  2. 2.Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de BiologiaUniversidade Estadual de CampinasCampinasBrazil

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