Abstract
The amphibian populations have faced a drastic decline over the past decades. This decline has been associated with the presence of contaminants in the environment, among other environmental stressors. The present study tested the responses following the exposure to lithium (2.5 mg L−1) and selenium (10μg L−1), both isolated and as a mixture, on the metabolic status of the tail muscle of premetamorphic American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) through the assessment of the total protein content, mobilization of glucose and triglycerides, and the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). The exposure followed a 21-day assay with two sampling periods (on the 7th and 21st day after the onset of exposure) to evaluate the effects over time. The group exposed to the mixture presented a statistically decreased LDH activity (P < 0.05) in both sampling periods. The presence of selenium elicited a statistically significant increase (P < 0.05) in the glucose mobilization after 7 days of exposure. After 21 days, the animals exposed to selenium presented levels of glucose mobilization comparable to the control group. The mobilization of glucose and triglycerides remained similar to the control group for the animals exposed to lithium and to the mixture in both periods of sampling (P > 0.05). The total protein content did not show any statistical difference in the treated groups throughout the experiment (P > 0.05). The presented results highlight the importance of the assessment of mixtures that can occur in the environment, since the combination of contaminants may elicit distinct toxicity compared with the effects triggered by the chemicals isolated.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge RECETOX research infrastructure (the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports: LM2018121) and the CETOCOEN EXCELLENCE Teaming 2 project supported by Horizon2020 (857560) and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (02.1.01/0.0/0.0/18_046/0015975).
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CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level—or Education—Personnel) Scholarship for Social Demand Code 001 to FAPV. Brazilian Institute of Comparative Physiology INCT-FisC (CNPq 573921/2008-3 and FAPESP 2008/57712-4) grant to MJC and FAPESP (grant number 2017/03653-6) and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development CNPq (grant number 302812/2016-4) to FAPESP (no. 2011/50752-3).
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Felipe Augusto Pinto Vidal: Investigation, writing the original draft, data analysis, and methodology. Fábio Camargo Abdalla: Investigation, methodology, and writing—review and editing. Cleoni dos Santos Carvalho: writing—review and editing. Heidi Samantha Moraes Utsunomiya: Investigation. Raquel Fernanda Salla: Data curation and writing—review and editing. Monica Jones-Costa: Supervision, writing—review and editing—and project administration.
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Pinto-Vidal, .A., Carvalho, C.d.S., Abdalla, F.C. et al. Effects of lithium and selenium in the tail muscle of American bullfrog tadpoles (Lithobates catesbeianus) during premetamorphosis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 1975–1984 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15686-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15686-5