The amphipod Parhyale hawaiensis as a promising model in ecotoxicology

Amanda Dos Santos, Marina Tenório Botelho, Monizze Vannuci-Silva, Mariana Coletty Artal, Francine I. Vacchi, Gabriel Rampazzo Magalhães, Vicente Gomes, Theodore Burdick Henry, Gisela De Aragão Umbuzeiro

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Near-shore marine/estuarine environments play an important role in the functioning of the marine ecosystem and are extremely vulnerable to the presence of chemical pollution. The ability to investigate the effects of pollution is limited by a lack of model organisms for which sufficient ecotoxicological information is available, and this is particularly true for tropical regions. The circumtropical marine amphipod Parhyale hawaiensis has become an important model organism in various disciplines, and here we summarize the scientific literature regarding the emergence of this model within ecotoxicology. P. hawaiensis is easily cultured in the laboratory and standardized ecotoxicity protocols have been developed and refined (e.g., miniaturized), and effects of toxicants on acute toxicity (Cd, Cu, Zn, Ag, ammonia, dyes, pesticides, environmental samples), genotoxicity as comet assay/micronuclei, and gene expression (Ag ion and Ag nanoparticles) and regeneration (pesticides) have been published. Methods for determination of internal concentrations of metals (Cu and Ag) and organic substances (synthetic dye) in hemolymph were successfully developed providing sources for the establishment of toxicokinetics models in aquatic amphipods. Protocols to evaluate reproduction and growth, for testing immune responses and DNA damage in germ cells are under way. The sensitivity of P. hawaiensis, measured as 50% lethal concentration (LC50), is in the same range as other amphipods. The combination of feasibility to culture P. hawaiensis in laboratory, the recent protocols for ecotoxicity evaluation and the rapidly expanding knowledge on its biology make it especially attractive as a model organism and promising tool for risk assessment evaluations in tropical environments.
Original languageEnglish
Article number135959
JournalChemosphere
Volume307
Early online date6 Aug 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2022

Keywords

  • Acute and chronic toxicity
  • Emerging model organism
  • Gene expression
  • Genotoxicity
  • Marine pollution
  • Regeneration

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Pollution
  • General Chemistry
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry

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