Preprint volume - SIBM

Pre-print Volume - Posters
Topic 2: MARINE ORGANISMS AND ECOSYSTEMS AS MODEL SYSTEMS
F. DEL PRETE 1 , A.L. LANGELLOTTI 1 , V. VITIELLO 1 , G. SANSONE 1,2
Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”
1 CRIAcq (Centro interdipartimentale di ricerche per la gestione delle risorse idrobiologiche e per l’acquacoltura),
Via Università, 100 – 80055 Portici (NA), Italia.
2 Dip. delle Scienze Biologiche, Sez. di Fisiologia ed Igiene, Via Mezzocannone, 16 – 80134 Napoli, Italia.
giovanni.sansone@unina.it
SPARUS AURATA (L.) EMBRYOS AS
MODEL ORGANISM FOR ECOTOXICOLOGICAL STUDIES
EMBRIONI DI SPARUS AURATA (L.) QUALE
ORGANISMO MODELLO PER STUDI ECOTOSSICOLOGICI
Abstract – Sparus aurata (L.) embryos have been proposed as model organism for aquatic biosciences.
Particularly the Authors propose eleutheroembryos for exceeding limitations presented in European laws
for the management of experimental animals; these embryos are year-round available because this specie is
commonly reared; moreover this model showed high sensitivity to xenobiotic substances in ecotoxicological
tests.
Key-words: Sparus aurata, fish embryos, aquatic model, ecotoxicology.
Introduction – The gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata (L.), one of the most important
fish for aquaculture in Mediterranean countries, is becoming a model organism for
marine teleosts as a result of its high commercial value and intensive research efforts
from the European scientific community (Franch et al., 2006), such as the network of
excellence Marine Genomics Europe (MGE) (www.marine-genomics-europe.org)
(Rafael et al., 2006). The European Council Directive n. 88/609/EEC, transposed in
Italy by Legislative Decree no. 116/1992, imposes strict rules on use of acute and
chronic toxicity tests performed on teleost fishes.
Recently, attention has focused on the use of fish embryos in ecotoxicological acute
assays (Embry et al., 2010) as alternative method for environmental risk assessment.
The large availability of seabream embryos is correlated to conditioning of the
reproductive cycle and to the daily spawning, because the asynchronous gonads
maturation. This work suggests the use of sea bream embryos as a model for aquatic
ecotoxicology and more generally for aquatic biosciences.
Materials and methods – Sparus aurata embryos, supplied by Mediterranean farms,
were year-round used in the last ten years. The embryos, obtained from natural
spawning, were collected at 1–2 cell stage and transported into the laboratory. 48h
toxicity tests were performed with growing concentrations of CdCl2 (UNICHIM ring
test reference toxicant) using 24h and 72h embryos post fertilization at the following
conditions: T 19±1 °C, salinity 37±1‰, pH 8±0.5, O2 7±1 ppm, density 100 embryos/
25 ml. Survival was evaluated at the end of the exposure and after 48h from Cd
removal. Statistical analysis was performed by t-Student test (n≥9) and significance
p