Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 11 (2016): e0162401, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162401.
Description:
Heavy metals such as mercury (Hg) pose a significant health hazard through bioaccumulation and biomagnification. By penetrating cell membranes, heavy metal ions may lead to pathological conditions. Here we examined the responses of Ammonia parkinsoniana, a benthic foraminiferan, to different concentrations of Hg in the artificial sea water. Confocal images of untreated and treated specimens using fluorescent probes (Nile Red and Acridine Orange) provided an opportunity for visualizing the intracellular lipid accumulation and acidic compartment regulation. With increased Hg over time, we observed an increased number of lipid droplets, which may have acted as a detoxifying organelle where Hg is sequestered and biologically inactivated. Further, Hg seems to promote the proliferation of lysosomes both in terms of number and dimension that, at the highest level of Hg, resulted in cell death. We report, for the first time, the presence of Hg within the foraminiferal cell: at the basal part of pores, in the organic linings of the foramen/septa, and as cytoplasmic accumulations.
Description:
The research for this paper was partially made possible by the financial support from the PRIN 2010-2011 Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR) (protocollo 2010RMTLYR) to RC. JMB acknowledges support from The Investment in Science Fund at WHOI. BG, JRE, AJ, LZ, and EMP were supported in part by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research, US Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the Mercury Science Focus Area at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is managed by UT-Battelle LLC for the DOE under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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