Toxicity of Cadmium Salts for Baikal Endemic Amphipods, Some Diochemical Consequences
M. A. Timofeev, Zh. M. Shatilina, A. V. Kolesnichenko
Abstract
An estimation of cadmium chloride solution toxicity for two endemic species of Baikal amphipods - Eulimnogammarus verrucosus (Gerstf.) and E. cyaneus (Dyb.) has been carried out. Used as biomarkers of toxic stress at the biochemical level were peroxidase activity criteria and the levels of synthesis of stress protein alpha-crystalline. The results of the study have demonstrated a high degree of toxicity of cadmium chloride for the two species. A decrease of peroxidase activity was found, which probably points to suppression of antioxidation processes in the organism of the crustaceans. On the example of the amphipods in fresh-water crustaceans, the synthesis of the protein alpha-crystalline induced by cadmium chloride was described for the first time. Taking into account that alpha-crystalline is a chaperone, the enhancement of its expression witnesses to probable structural disturbances in cellular proteins.
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