Acclimation capacity of the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus, L.) to a sudden biological stress following a polymetallic exposure

Antoine Le Guernic (1, 2, 3) , Wilfried Sanchez (1, 3) , Olivier Palluel (1, 3) , Anne Bado-Nilles (1, 3) , Magali Floriani (2) , Cyril Turies (1) , Edith Chadili (1, 3) , Claire Della-Vedova (2) , Isabelle Cavalie (2) , Christelle Adam-Guillermin (2) , Jean-Marc Porcher (1, 3) , Alain Geffard (3) , Stéphane Betoulle (3) , Béatrice Gagnaire (2)

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques
2 IRSN - Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire
3 SEBIO - Stress Environnementaux et BIOsurveillance des milieux aquatiques

To get closer to the environmental reality, ecotoxicological studies should no longer consider the evaluation of a single pollutant, but rather combination of stress and their interaction. The aim of this study was to determine if responses of a fish to a sudden biological stress could be modified by a prior exposure to a chemical stress (a polymetallic contamination). For this purpose, in situ experiment was conducted in three ponds in the Haute-Vienne department (France). One pond was chosen for its high uranium concentration due to uranium mine tailings, and the two other ponds, which were not submitted to these tailings. Three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) were caged in these ponds for 14 days. After this period, fish were submitted to a biological stress, exerted by lipopolysaccharides injection after anesthesia, and were sacrificed 4 days after these injections for multi-biomarkers analyses (leucocyte viability, phagocytic capacity and reactive oxygen species production, antioxidant peptide and enzymes, lipid peroxidation and DNA damage). The pond which received uranium mine tailings had higher metallic concentrations. Without biological stress, sticklebacks caged in this pond presented an oxidative stress, with increasing of reactive oxygen species levels, modification of some parts of the antioxidant system, and lipid peroxidation. Caging in the two most metal-contaminated ponds resulted in an increase of susceptibility of sticklebacks to the biological stress, preventing their phagocytic responses to lipopolysaccharides and modifying their glutathione contents and glutathione-S-transferase activity.

Mots clés: ACCLIMATION CAPACITY; POLYMETALLIC CONTAMINATION; LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDES; CHEMICAL STRESS; BIOLOGICAL STRESS; CAGING; THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK

Domaines: Ecotoxicologie

Antoine Le Guernic, Wilfried Sanchez, Olivier Palluel, Anne Bado-Nilles, Magali Floriani, et al.. Acclimation capacity of the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus, L.) to a sudden biological stress following a polymetallic exposure. Ecotoxicology, 2016, 25 (8), pp.1478-1499. ⟨10.1007/s10646-016-1699-6⟩. ⟨ineris-01863105⟩