Manganese: role of chemical fractioning and speciation as determinants of its geochemical and developmental neurotoxicological effect

Author(s)

Raúl Bonne Hernández

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Conjunto das Químicas (IQ e FCF) (CQ/DBDCQ)
• Defense date: 2009-12-11

Examining board members

Breno Pannia Espósito; Ana Maria da Costa Ferreira; Jorge Cesar Masini; Renata Guimarães Moreira; Ciro Alberto de Oliveira Ribeiro

• Advisor: Breno Pannia Espósito

Abstract

Manganese (Mn) is an essential element, however it may be toxic in higher than recquired physiological levels. The present work was motivated by the increased levels of this metal in the Alto do Paranapanema (ALPA, São Paulo state) hydrographic basin and to the growing amount of international evidence relating neurological disorders to excess Mn in superficial waters. Therefore, experiments were conducted in order to evaluate Mn both geochemical and neurotoxicological profiles on the developmental stages of aquatic organisms and mammaliam models as a function of metal speciation. During August 2006 to April 2007, four expeditions to ALPA were performed to collect water and sediment samples from rivers Paranapanema and Itapetininga, as well as from Jurumirim reservoir. Chemical fractioning studies showed that Mn occurs mainly in sediments (Mn bound to Fe, Mn (hydr)oxides > Mn bound to carbonates ≈ Interchangeable Mn ≈ Mn bound to silicates > Mn bound to organic matter) but in constant exchange with the liquid column, where Mn occurs as particulated metal and, in lesser amounts, as a labile metal. This distribution pattern is thought to be governed by the oxidant and alkaline conditions of this aquatic system. Also, Mn was found to be of natural origin, however posing ~ 30% of ecotoxicological risks. In vitro (neuronal cells) and in vivo (zebrafish, Danio rerio embryos) studies with the species MnCl2, Mn(II)Cit, Mn(III)Cit, Mn(III)PPi (Cit: Citrate, PPi: Pyrophosphate) suggest that Mn(II) is more toxic than Mn(III). However, independently of chemical speciation, Mn was more toxic to cerebellar glutamatergic neurons during differentiation and to zebrafish in the embryo- larval period (> 72 hours pos-fertilization), to which neuromuscular damage was observed. The most toxic species for embryos exposed for 48 h was MnCl2, but in the 120 h exposition experiment Mn(II)Cit was more toxic, suggesting that citrate mediates the toxicity, in an exception to the Free Ion Activity Model. According to these results, it was observed inhibition in the metabolism of lactate and ascorbate in vitro. Gene expression studies of zebrafish were performed by both qualitative and quantitative RT-PCR, displaying changes in the expression of the mithocondrial gene mt-co1 which may be compensated by an overexpression of hspb11 gene. These results suggest that the damage induced by Mn species may be related to mitochondrial and energy metabolism disfunction followed by induction of oxi-reductive stress, which can be partially reverted by the exogenous administration of lactate and/or ascorbate. The putative mechanisms are proposed. The possibility that these toxic events might be important to other species, humans included, is substantiated mainly by the toxicogenomics studies, since ortologs for both genes are widespread. This is especially true to mt-co1, which may be a biomarker for Mn toxicity. Finally, it is suggested that the reference values of Mn in sediments should be revised to accomodate the contributions of bioavailable fractions, and that results should be considered by official environment control agencies during their evaluation and risk management programs (AU)