Cellular cadmium transport in gills and hepatopancreas of Ucides Cordatus, a mangrove crab
Tipo
Capítulo de livro
Data de publicação
2012
Periódico
Crabs: Anatomy, Habitat and Ecological Significance
Citações (Scopus)
1
Autores
Ortega P.
Zanotto F.P.
Zanotto F.P.
Orientador
Título da Revista
ISSN da Revista
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Resumo
Ucides cordatus is a mangrove crab, and has a very important role in human food consumption. Mangrove areas can be contaminated with heavy metals, like cadmium (Cd), through waste and disposal of batteries from industries. This metal reaches the animal through its gills, when is dissolved in the water, or through its hepatopancreas, from consumption of contaminated food. Because this metal does not have any physiological role for the animal, small concentrations can be extremely toxic. It is not known how cadmium enters the cells, but, because it is a divalent metal, it could enter cells together with calcium, using its plasma membrane channels to penetrate the cells. Therefore, the objective of the work was to characterize the kinetics of Cd transport. For this, the gill cells were separated by enzymatic dissociation, and the hepatopancreatic cells were dissociated by magnetic stirring, then, the cells were separated by sucrose gradient, and labeled with Fluo 3 AM. After that, the kinetics of Cd transport was characterized in the spectrofluorimeter, with addition of successive CdSO4 concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 μM), respectively. Results showed a sigmoidal curve for Cd transport, suggesting that others ions, like calcium, for example, can participate in the transport of Cd. © 2012 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.