Aluminum exposure alters the pedal mucous secretions of the chocolate-band snail, Eobania vermiculata (Gastropoda: Helicidae).

Aluminum (Al) is used in everyday life and present in food drugs, packaging, industry, and agriculture. Although it is the most common metal in the Earth crust, a correlation has been demonstrated between its presence and various pathologies, even serious ones, especially of a neurological type. However, there is a histological gap regarding the role Al can have in contact with the covering and secreting epithelia. The alterations of the ventral and dorsal foot mucocytes and their secretions of the snail Eobania vermiculata caused by Al were investigated in situ by histochemical and lectin-histochemical techniques. Administration to different experimental groups took place for 3 and 9 days with 50 and 200 µM of AlCl3. Several types of mucocytes were detected with a prevalent secretion of acid glycans in the foot of E. vermiculata. Sulfated glycans prevail in the dorsal region, with one type showing only fucosylated residues and another also having galactosaminylated and glycosaminylated residues. Carboxylated glycans prevail in the ventral region, with presence of galactosaminylated, glycosaminylated, and fucosylated residuals in both cells. Snails treated presented a general decrease of mucin amount in the secreting cells and affected the mucus composition. These changes could alter the rheological and functional properties of the mucus with possible implications for the health of the treated animals. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Snails were fed with Al-contaminated lettuce at different concentrations. In the foot mucocytes produced mucus with prevailing acidic glycans. In the treated resulted a reduction in the amount of mucus and an alteration of glycan composition.

Aluminum induces a stress response in zebrafish gills by influencing metabolic parameters, morphology, and redox homeostasis.

Environmental air pollution and resulting acid rain have the effect of increasing aluminum levels in water bodies. We studied the effects of aluminum on fish gills, the tissue most exposed to aluminum, using zebrafish as an experimental model. Adult zebrafish were exposed to an aluminum concentration found in polluted environments (11 mg/L) for 10, 15 and 20 days and the effects on gill morphology, redox homeostasis (ROS content, NADPH oxidase, NOX, activity, oxidative damage, antioxidant enzymes, total antioxidant capacity, in vitro susceptibility to oxidants) and on behavioural and metabolic parameters (routine respiratory oxygen consumption rMO2, tail-beating frequency, cytochrome oxidase activity and muscle lactate content) were evaluated. Exposure to aluminum affects branchial histology, inducing alterations in primary and secondary lamellae and redox homeostasis, modifying ROS levels, NOX activity, lipid and protein oxidative damage, antioxidant enzymes, and total antioxidant capacities, and increases rMO2. The effects exhibited a time-dependent behaviour, suggesting the activation of an adaptive response. These changes are associated with a transition of muscle metabolism from aerobic to anaerobic, as suggested by the increase in muscle lactate content, which is probably functional to preserve locomotor performance. Overall, the results here reported provide new insights into the toxicity mechanisms of Al exposure on gill tissue and the subsequent adaptive response of aquatic species.

Impacts of Environmental Pollution on Brain Tumorigenesis.

Pollutants consist of several components, known as direct or indirect mutagens, that can be associated with the risk of tumorigenesis. The increased incidence of brain tumors, observed more frequently in industrialized countries, has generated a deeper interest in examining different pollutants that could be found in food, air, or water supply. These compounds, due to their chemical nature, alter the activity of biological molecules naturally found in the body. The bioaccumulation leads to harmful effects for humans, increasing the risk of the onset of several pathologies, including cancer. Environmental components often combine with other risk factors, such as the individual genetic component, which increases the chance of developing cancer. The objective of this review is to discuss the impact of environmental carcinogens on modulating the risk of brain tumorigenesis, focusing our attention on certain categories of pollutants and their sources.

Coffee Silverskin: Chemical and Biological Risk Assessment and Health Profile for Its Potential Use in Functional Foods.

The coffee supply chain is characterized by a complex network with many critical and unsustainable points producing a huge amount of waste products. Among these, coffee silverskin (CS), the only by-product of the coffee roasting phase, has an interesting chemical profile that suggests potential use as a food ingredient. However, few data on its safety are available. For this reason, the purpose of the study was to assess the occurrence of chemical and biological contaminants in CS, and the resulting risk due to its potential consumption. Essential, toxic, and rare earth elements, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), process contaminants, ochratoxin A (OTA), and pesticides residues were analyzed in three classes of samples (Coffea arabica CS, Coffea robusta CS, and their blend). Furthermore, total mesophilic bacteria count (TMBC) at 30 °C, Enterobacteriaceae, yeasts, and molds was evaluated. The risk assessment was based upon the hazard index (HI) and lifetime cancer risk (LTCR). In all varieties and blends, rare earth elements, pesticides, process contaminants, OTA, and PAHs were not detected except for chrysene, phenanthrene, and fluoranthene, which were reported at low concentrations only in the arabica CS sample. Among essential and toxic elements, As was usually the most representative in all samples. Microorganisms reported a low load, although arabica and robusta CS showed lower contamination than mixed CS. Instead, the risk assessment based on the potential consumption of CS as a food ingredient did not show either non-carcinogenic or carcinogenic risk. Overall, this study provides adequate evidence to support the safety of this by-product for its potential use in functional foods.

Protamine-like proteins' analysis as an emerging biotechnique for cadmium impact assessment on male mollusk Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck 1819).

Here we report the industrial pollution effects due to cadmium on the reproductive health of Mytilus galloprovincialis. Mussels were removed from the biofouling of a Conatex panel after one year exposition at a polluted site near a disposal metallurgical factory. A high cadmium bioaccumulation was observed in the testis of mussels housed at the polluted site, with respect to a control site, as determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, along with a 10 fold increase in metallothionein 20 kDa gene (mt20) expression levels determined by qPCR. Furthermore, mussels transferred into laboratory tanks from the reference site, and exposed to 1.5, 5 and 10 µM CdCl2, revealed a 1.7, 3.2 and 4.5 fold expression increase in the testis mt20, respectively, and a positive correlation with cadmium bioaccumulation was found. To evaluate a potential detrimental risk of such alterations on spermatozoa, we carried out electrophoretic analyses on their protamine-like proteins. As determined by AU-PAGE, after 1.5 µM CdCl2 exposure, protamine-like proteins also display major alterations with respect to those obtained after 5 and 10 µM CdCl2 exposure. All protamine-like proteins isolated from the polluted biofouling were in an aggregated form and displayed the same reduced DNA binding affinity of the protamine-like proteins obtained after 1.5 µM CdCl2 as demonstrated EMSA with sperm genomic DNA. Our results contribute to the studies concerning cadmium induced testis alterations and highlight protamine-like proteins' analysis as an emerging biotechnique for cadmium impact assessment on Mytilus galloprovincialis, for the sensitivity of the in vivo and in vitro changes of protamine-like proteins' state and their DNA binding affinity.