Bioaccumulation of Pollutants in Marine Organisms

NICOLESCU Florica1, MITITELU Magdalena2*, GHICA Manuela3, IONIȚĂ Ana Corina2, NEACȘU Sorinel Marius2, DUMITRESCU Denisa Elena4, MOROȘAN Elena2, NICOLESCU Teodor Octavian5

1Toxicology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, ”Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6, Traian Vuia Street, 020956, Bucharest (ROMANIA)

2Clinical Laboratory and Food Hygiene Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, ”Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6, Traian Vuia Street, 020956, Bucharest (ROMANIA)

3Department of Mathematics and Biostatistics, Faculty of Pharmacy, ”Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6, Traian Vuia Street, 020956, Bucharest (ROMANIA)

4Organic Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ovidius University, Constanța (ROMANIA)

5Organic Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, ”Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6, Traian Vuia Street, 020956, Bucharest (ROMANIA)

*corresponding author: magdamititelu@yahoo.com

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis the pollution with heavy metals (cadmium, copper, zincum, lead) of Black Sea water and some marine organisms: small fishes, mussels and green algae. The samples were collected from different zones of the Romanian Black Sea Coast: Mamaia, Harbour of Constanța and Vama Veche.  The heavy metals concentrations were analyzed with a SHIMADZU AA 6300 atomic absorption spectrophotometer (air / acetylene flame).

Keywords: heavy metals, marine organisms, atomic absorption spectometer

Introduction

Heavy metal pollution in the marine environment is a global problem. Heavy metals present in the aquatic environment are associated with transport atmospheric, precipitation, etc. Industrial and agricultural wastes and those from domestic wastewater is the most important source of heavy metals.

Bioaccumulation is a topic frequently addressed recently in the field research and analysis of the risk to the environment as it represents exposure the body to various environmental pollutants.

The accumulation of metals in marine sediments is a risk to the ecosystem, and concentrations of heavy metals in them can provide historical information about pollution of an area. Unlike many organic pollutants, metals do not they degrade, but remain in the environment [1,2,3]. The toxic potential of metals depends on bioavailability and physicochemical properties of them. Concentrations of heavy metals in sediments and suspensions are much higher than in seawater, so a small fraction of them can is an important source for retrieval, in especially for filter organisms and those buried in sediment. Transfer of metals along the chains aquatic trophies are of interest for research on environmental health for several reasons [4-8]. Into the first, the accumulation of metals in organisms marine can result in trophic transfer of metals to humans, leading to a risk potential for public health behind consumption of contaminated marine products [1,2,9,10,11].

Population growth, increased urbanization, industrialization and intensive agriculture are inevitably accompanied by an increase in water pollution. In these conditions it is not always easy to identified sources of pollution nor to estimate their effects that depend on both nature and the concentration of the pollutant as well as the ecosystem in which it acts, the phenomena being very complex [1,2,13,14,15,16]. Sewage, domestic and industrial, puts significant pressure on the environment aquatic, due to loads of organic matter, nutrients and hazardous substances.

Environmental pollution has increased substantially in recent decades due to a large numbers of industrial, agricultural, commercial and domestic waste, effluents and emissions, as well as dangerous substances. Most environmental pollutants endanger human life and the environment, but also the integrity and function of ecosystems [17,18, 19,20].

Due to a large scale dilution of contaminants in the aquatic matrices, the concentrations of many organic pollutants are below the detection limits of standard analytical and sampling methods. So that, the analytical determination of the heavy metals is a very important task for environment studies [2,3,21,22,23,24]. 

This paper presents an analysis of pollution with heavy metals (cadmium, copper, zincum, lead) from Black Sea water and some marine organisms: small fishes (Gobius platyrostris, Engraulis encramicholus), mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and green algae (Enteromorpha sp., Ulva sp.). 

Methodology

Water samples, mussels, green algae and small fishes were collected on the Romanian Black Sea Coast at: 1.Mamaia, 2.Harbour of Constanta and 3.Vama Veche during May 2019.

The fresh tissue samples were washed, hashed, dried at 105°C and then were mineralized by the wet digestion method. After homogenization of the samples, 2 g of homogenate were taken and placed in vessels in the ashing unit with 10 mL 65% HNO3, 5 mL 37% HCl and 2 mL 35% H2O2 and gradually heated (Velp DK-6 Heating Digester) (150 0 C for 1 h, 200 0C for 2 h, 250 0C for 1 h, 300 0C for 2 hours). The solutions were allowed to cool at room temperature, transferred into 25 mL volumetric flasks and diluted to the mark with ultra-distilled water [2,3]. 

The shell samples after washing, were dried at 105 0C, pulverised and also mineralized by wet digestion method.

Aqueous samples (500 mL) were filtered using Whatman No. 41 (0.45 mm pore size) filter paper for the estimation of dissolved metal content. Filtrate and as-collected water samples (500 mL each) were preserved with 2 mL nitric acid to prevent the precipitation of metals. Both samples were tenfold concentrated on a water bath and subjected to nitric acid digestion using the microwave-assisted technique, setting pressure at 30 bars and power at 700 Watts.

All used reagents were of analytical reagent grade (Merck). The resultant solutions were analysed with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer SHIMADZU AA 6300 (air / acetylene flame) in order to determine the heavy metals concentration: cadmium (λ = 228.8 nm), copper (λ = 324.7 nm), zincum (λ = 213.9 nm) and lead (λ = 217 nm). A blank digestion solution was made for comparison. A standard solution for each element under investigation was prepared and used for calibration. Triplicate determinations were performed for each solution. Results are expressed as mean ± S.D. (standard deviation) of triplicate analysis. Data were statistical evaluated using student t Test [25].

According to OMS nr1888/2007 [26] the maximum levels for certain heavy metals and organic pollutants allowed in marine water are: cadmium 20 μg/L, copper 100 μg/L, zincum 50 μg/L, lead μg/L.

Results

The concentrations of heavy metals in the samples analysed are presented in the figures below (Fig. 1-4): 

μg/L in water samples

      μg/g in dried tissue mussel samples

μg/g in shells mussel samples

μg/g in dried fish samples

μg/g in algae samples

 

 

collecting places

(1.Mamaia, 2.Harbour of Constanța, 3.Vama Veche)

Fig. 1  Concentration of Cd

μg/L in water samples

      μg/g in dried tissue mussel samples

μg/g in shells mussel samples

μg/g in dried fish samples

μg/g in algae samples

collecting places

(1.Mamaia, 2.Harbour of Constanța, 3.Vama Veche)

Fig. 2  Concentration of Cu

μg/L in water samples

      μg/g in dried tissue mussel samples

μg/g in shells mussel samples

μg/g in dried fish samples

μg/g in algae samples

collecting places

(1.Mamaia, 2.Harbour of Constanța, 3.Vama Veche)

  Fig. 3  Concentration of Pb

μg/L in water samples

      μg/g in dried tissue mussel samples

μg/g in shells mussel samples

μg/g in dried fish samples

μg/g in algae samples

collecting places

(1.Mamaia, 2.Harbour of Constanța, 3.Vama Veche)

Fig. 4  Concentration of Zn

From figures above we remark the increase concentrations of some heavy metals like Cd and Pb, especially in the water samples collected from the Mamaia and Harbour of Constanța. At Mamaia we have detected the highest concentrations of Cd (4.34 μg/L) and Pb (3.86 μg/L) in the sea water samples. The highest concentrations of Cu (6.9 μg/L) and Zn (15.04 μg/L) were detected in the sea water samples collected from Harbour of Constanța.

According to the experimental results we notice that the pollutants accumulate especially in the meat of mussels and algae. Mussel shells retain less pollutants compared to meat. We also notice that the higher the water pollution, the greater the amount of pollutants in the marine areas in the polluted areas.

Conclusions

The concentration values of heavy metals analyzed in sea water samples are between 1.47 – 4.34 μg/L for Cd, between 5.01 – 6.9 μg/L for Cu, between 1.88 – 3.86 μg/L for Pb, between 11.05 – 15.04 μg/L for Zn. There is a close correlation between the degree of water pollution and the level of contamination of marine organisms. Thus, we notice an increase in the content of pollutants in marine organisms harvested from areas with high levels of pollution.

We remark a high degree of sea water pollution especially near industrial zones: Mamaia and Harbour of Constanța. In these zones, the marine organisms have increase content in heavy metals, especially the filtrating organisms (which retain small particles from sea water) like mussels and algae.

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