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Sea urchin coelomocytes as a novel cellular biosensor of environmental stress: a field study in the Tremiti Island Marine Protected Area, Southern Adriatic Sea, Italy

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate on the suitability of the sea urchin as a sentinel organism for the assessment of the macro-zoobenthos health state in bio-monitoring programmes. A field study was carried out during two oceanographic campaigns using immuno-competent cells, the coelomocytes, from sea urchins living in a marine protected area. In particular, coelomocytes subpopulations ratio and heat shock protein 70 (HSC70) levels were measured in specimens of Paracentrotus lividus (Lamark, 1816) collected in two sampling sites, namely Pianosa and Caprara Islands, both belonging to the Tremiti Island Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Southern Adriatic Sea, Italy. By density gradients separation performed on board the Astrea boat, we found an evident increase in red amoebocytes, a subpopulation increasing upon stress, in those specimens collected around Pianosa (strictly protected area with no human activities allowed), unlike those collected around Caprara (low restrictions for human activities). Likewise, we found higher HSC70 protein levels in the low impacted site (Pianosa) by Western blots on total coelomocyte lysates. The apparent paradox could be explained by the presence in the Pianosa sampling area of contaminating remains from Second World War conventional ammunitions and a merchant boat wreck. Metal determination performed using sea urchin gonads by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) revealed higher Fe and lower Zn levels around Pianosa with respect to Caprara, in accordance with the persistent contaminating metal sources, and thus calling for remediation measures. Taken all together, our results confirm the feasibility of using sea urchin coelomocytes as biosensors of environmental stress.

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Abbreviations

CCM:

Coelomocyte culture medium

DTT:

Dithiothreitol

EDTA:

ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid

EGTA:

ethyleneglycol-tetraacetic acid

HSC70:

Heat shock protein 70 constitutively expressed

ICP-AES:

Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

MPA:

Marine Protected Area

REDCOD:

Research on Environmental Damage Caused By Chemical Ordinance Dumped At Sea

TNT:

2,4,6-trinitrotoluene

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Acknowledgements

The research was performed in the framework of the “Research on Environmental Damages Caused by Ordnance Dumped at sea” RED COD project; EU contract number B4-3070/2003/368585/SUB/D.3. V.M. acknowledges partial support from the Italian Space Agency Project MoMa (contract 1/014/06/0). We are grateful to Silvia Giuliani, Marco Matiddi and Marina Penna for their valid contribution during sampling campaigns 2003 and 2004.

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  1. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biomedicina e Immunologia Molecolare “Alberto Monroy”, Via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy

    A. Pinsino, R. Bonaventura & V. Matranga

  2. Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica Applicata al Mare (ICRAM), Via Casalotti 300, 00166, Rome, Italy

    A. Pinsino, C. Della Torre, V. Sammarini & E. Amato

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  1. A. Pinsino
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  2. C. Della Torre
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  3. V. Sammarini
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  4. R. Bonaventura
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  5. E. Amato
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  6. V. Matranga
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Correspondence to V. Matranga.

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Pinsino, A., Della Torre, C., Sammarini, V. et al. Sea urchin coelomocytes as a novel cellular biosensor of environmental stress: a field study in the Tremiti Island Marine Protected Area, Southern Adriatic Sea, Italy. Cell Biol Toxicol 24, 541–552 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10565-008-9055-0

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