Abstract
Soft tissue concentrations of lead, calcium, and magnesium were measured in the garden snail,Helix aspersa, over a 64-day dosing regime. Snails were compared from an uncontaminated site and from a grossly polluted car park. In each case, 25 snails were given a diet with 500 μg/g Pb (as PbSO4), and 25 were removed to a Pb-free diet after two days on the Pb dose. The snails from the car park maintained a higher concentration of Ca in the soft tissues, and assimilated Ca faster on a high Pb diet. Concentrations of Pb and Ca can be correlated for the soft tissues of the dosed car park snails. No such relationship was found for the snails from the rural site. The rate of Ca assimilation may determine the excretion rate of intracellular granules, where Pb is bound. Population differences in Pb uptake might result from variations in Ca metabolism, which, in the car park snails, could represent an adaptation to high ambient Pb.
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Beeby, A., Richmond, L. Calcium metabolism in two populations of the snailHelix aspersa on a high lead diet. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 17, 507–511 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01055516
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01055516