Hepato-Nephrocitic System: A Novel Model of Biomarkers for Analysis of the Ecology of Stress in Environmental Biomonitoring

Author(s)

Abdalla, Fabio Camargo ^[1] ; da Costa Domingues, Caio Eduardo ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Biol, Lab Struct & Funct Biol, Sorocaba, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PLoS One; v. 10, n. 7 JUL 21 2015.
• Web of Science Citations: 2

Abstract

Bombus presents a serious global decline of populations and even loss of species. This phenomenon is complex and multifactorial: environmental degradation due to increasing cultivation and grazing areas, indiscriminate use of agrochemicals, and a plethora of xeno-biotics daily discharged in the environment. We proposed that bees have an integrated cell system, which ensures protection against chemical stressors up to a certain limit. Therefore, this hypothesis was tested, exposing workers of Bombus morio to cadmium, a harmful trace metal nowadays widespread in our society. The workers were kept in BOD (26 degrees C, RH 70%, in the dark), fed ad libitum, and divided into a control group (n = 20) and an experimental group (n = 20). For the first group, we offered 2 mL of distilled water; for the experimental groups, 2mL of cadmium at 1 ppb. In relation to the control group, exposed bees showed that their fat body and hemocytes responded in synchronization with pericardial cells in a topographical and temporal cascade of events, where the fat body is the first barrier against xenobiotics, followed by pericardial cells. The immune cells participate throughout the process. To this system, we proposed the name of hepato-nephrocitic system (HNS), which may explain many phenomena that remain unclear in similar research with Apis mellifera and other species of bees, as shown in this paper. The bee's HNS is a system of highly responsive cells to toxicants, considered a novel parameter for the study of the ecology of stress applied in environmental management. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/04697-9 - Effects of the interaction between the thiametoxam insecticide and picoxystrobin fungicide on larvae and adult of africanized Apis mellifera
• Grantee: Caio Eduardo da Costa Domingues
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• FAPESP's process: 11/17840-6 - Effect of cadmium and Roundup® on internal organs of Bombus morio and Bombus atratus (Hymenoptera: Bombini)
• Grantee: Fábio Camargo Abdalla
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants