Muscular cholinesterase activities and lipid peroxidation levels as biomarkers in several Mediterranean marine fish species and their relationship with ecological variables Montserrat Solé a, ⁎, Miguel Baena a , Susana Arnau a , Maite Carrasson b , Francesc Maynou a , Joan E. Cartes a a Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Pg. Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain b Dpt. Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola, 08193 Barcelona, Spain abstract article info Article history: Received 20 July 2009 Accepted 20 November 2009 Available online 22 December 2009 Keywords: Cholinesterases Lipid peroxidation Ecological parameters Marine fish NW Mediterranean Muscular cholinesterase activities, as potential markers of neurotoxic exposure, and lipid peroxidation levels, indicative of oxidative stress damage, both currently used in early-warning pollution monitoring, were characterised in eighteen fish species of ecologic and/or economic importance. These species comprise five orders and eleven families of teleosts and two species of elasmobranchs, feed using different strategies (benthic, epibenthic, endobenthic and pelagic), belong to different trophic levels and express different swimming behaviour. Their habitat ranges from 50 to 60 m (shallow or continental shelf) and 600 to 850 m (middle continental slope). Sampling took place in front of the Barcelona coast (NW Mediterranean) during four seasonal cruises in 2007. In the summer sampling, another site potentially exposed to a different pollution load (Vilanova) was included for comparison. Species, seasonal and site differences were tested and discussed in relation to chemical analysis of the local sediment, systematic position, habitat depth, feeding strategy, trophic level and swimming activity. Greater inter species differences rather than seasonal or site trends were seen in accordance to little pollution fluctuations. Higher cholinesterase activities were recorded in suprabenthos feeders, regardless of depth habitat, whereas LP levels were similar in all species except for the shark Scyliorhinus canicula in which they were consistently elevated. This study confirms and broadens former observations carried out with a more reduced number of fish species (Solé et al., 2008a). © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In ecotoxicology the use of a battery of cellular and biochemical parameters to evaluate exposure/effects to chemicals, is strongly recommended (Cajaraville et al., 2000; van der Oost et al., 2003). Among the proposed biomarkers, cholinesterase (ChE) activities are considered reliable markers of exposure to anticholinergic chemicals such as organophospohorus (OP) pesticides and carbamates (Gallo- way et al., 2004). However, there is growing evidence that other chemical classes can also affect these enzymatic activities in fish: petrogenic chemicals including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; Vieira et al., 2008), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs; Buet et al., 2006), detergents (Jifa et al., 2005; Feng et al., 2008), metals (Gill et al., 1990; Zinkl et al., 1991), antifoulants (López-Galindo et al., 2009) as well as complex mixtures of pollutants (Payne et al., 1996; Moreira et al., 2004). The fact that the cholinergic synapses can be disrupted by a broad range of environmental contaminants has great ecological relevance, as acetylcholine is the main neurotransmitter involved not only in neuromuscular action but also in controlling respiration, feeding, swimming capacity, behaviour, prey–hunter relationships, hormonal function and reproduction. Thus, any altera- tions on this activity can potentially lead to ecological disturbances (Peakall, 1992; Labenia et al., 2007). Acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7) and pseudocholines- terases: butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and propionylcholinesterase (PrChE) (EC 3.1.1.8), are all present in marine fish muscle, being AChE the predominant form. The physiological role of AChE is clear (breaking acetylcholine in neuromuscular junctions); however the role of BChE and PrChE is less understood due to the lack of a natural substrate. Nevertheless, pseudocholinesterases seem to be involved in detoxification processes, cell regeneration, lipid metabolism, neuro- genesis and neural development (Mack and Robitzki, 2000). More- over, the fact that in fish they respond to certain chemical classes, even more specifically than AChE, supports their consideration in pollution monitoring studies (Sturm et al., 1999, 2000; Kirby et al., 2000; Gold-Bouchot et al., 2006). ChEs, and mostly AChE have been applied in fish from the Mediterranean (Stien et al., 1998; Bresler et al., 1999; Burgeot et al., Environment International 36 (2010) 202–211 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 93 230 95 00; fax: +34 93 230 95 55. E-mail address: msole@icm.csic.es (M. Solé). 0160-4120/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2009.11.008 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environment International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envint