Development of subcellular distribution methods to identify indirect or direct effects of metals on aquatic organisms

开发亚细胞分布方法以确定金属对水生生物的间接或直接影响

• 批准号: 485344-2015
• 负责人: Couture, Patrice
• 金额: $ 8.94万
• 依托单位: Institut national de la recherche scientifique
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=584885
• 关键词: Development; subcellular; distribution; methods; identify

In Canada, strict regulations control the composition of discharges from mining and smelting operations into aquatic environments. Mining companies are currently required to conduct environmental effects monitoring (EEM), which involves conducting biological studies in the aquatic environment to assess and monitor effects potentially caused by their effluent. Stantec Consulting Ltd. is engaged in the EEM studies required as part of the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER). Its investigations on various client mining sites, conducted downstream from the mine effluent and in reference areas unaffected by the effluent, have revealed that the aquatic communities in the receiving environment often differ from the communities present at the reference sites. Our proposed study is designed to provide a tool to determine if the observed effects are in fact due to waterborne/diet-borne metal exposure or rather to habitat differences. Reports in the scientific literature have demonstrated that exposure to metals in the environment may lead to metal accumulation and toxicity in fish and other aquatic species. Once metals enter living organisms, they can penetrate into their cells and cause deleterious effects. Alternately, the entering metals can be detoxified by binding to molecules designed to sequester them and prevent them from exerting their toxic effects. The first objective of this project is to investigate, with a better resolution than is currently available, to which intracellular ligands metals bind and to relate metal accumulation in specific fractions to toxicity. With this information in hand, the second objective is to develop a tool for environmental effects monitoring based on the subcellular metal partitioning technique that would provide a better estimate of risk of toxicity than the current approach of using total tissue metal accumulation in fish and other aquatic organisms. Finally, the project will also investigate the trophic transfer of metals through the aquatic food web. This research will contribute to advancing our understanding of the toxic modes of action of metals to aquatic organisms. It will also improve our capacity to monitor the risk for aquatic organisms of metal mining effluents.

在加拿大，严格的法规控制采矿和冶炼作业排放到水生环境的排放物的成分。目前要求矿业公司进行环境影响监测，其中包括在水生环境中进行生物研究，以评估和监测其废水可能造成的影响。Stantec咨询有限公司从事《金属采矿废水条例》（MMER）所要求的EEM研究。它在矿山污水下游和未受污水影响的参考地区对各种客户采矿地点进行的调查显示，接收环境中的水生群落往往不同于参考地点的群落。我们提出的研究旨在提供一种工具，以确定所观察到的影响实际上是由于水生/饮食性金属暴露，还是由于栖息地差异。