Metal accumulation and oxidative stress responses in, cultured and wild, white seabream from Northwest Atlantic Marta Ferreira a, ⁎ , Miguel Caetano b , Joana Costa a , Pedro Pousão-Ferreira c , Carlos Vale b , Maria Armanda Reis-Henriques a,d a CIMAR/CIIMAR — Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental — Universidade do Porto, Rua dos Bragas, 289, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal b INRB/IPIMAR — Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos — IPIMAR, Av. Brasília, 1449-006 Lisboa, Portugal c INRB/IPIMAR SUL— Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos Av. 5 de Outubro 8700-305, Olhão, Portugal d ICBAS/UP — Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar — Universidade do Porto, Largo Professor Abel Salazar, 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal ARTICLE DATA ABSTRACT Article history: Received 15 May 2008 Received in revised form 29 July 2008 Accepted 31 July 2008 Available online 9 September 2008 Metals are environmentally ubiquitous and can be found at high concentrations in seawater and subsequently in marine organisms. Metals with high redox potential can trigger oxidative stress mechanisms with damaging effects in biological tissues. In aquatic species, oxidative stress has been evaluated by assessing antioxidant enzymes activities and oxidative damages in tissues. The purpose of this study was to evaluate oxidative stress biomarkers and metal residues in white seabream (Diplodus sargus), a species entering aquaculture production in Portugal. Metal residues (Cu, Cd, As and Pb), in liver and muscle, as well as oxidative stress biomarkers were assessed at different stages in the life cycle of white seabream under culture conditions and in wild specimens, of a marketable size. Metal concentrations in tissues were low, and below the established limits. However, wild white seabream showed higher accumulation than cultured ones. Antioxidant enzymes, namely catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), were correlated with metal accumulation. Oxidative damages to tissues were low, with wild white seabream showing lower levels than cultured fish. This study showed that white seabream has a good antioxidant defense system, capable of reducing oxidative damages in tissues resulting from the presence of metals. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Oxidative stress biomarkers Metals White seabream Farmed Wild specimens 1. Introduction In recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the need to assess the effects of contaminants in aquatic organisms, and also the risk of farmed fish consumption for human health. Aquaculture has been increasing in recent decades, as a consequence of the increase of fish consump- tion, since fisheries have possibly reached their maximum due to overexploitation ( FAO, 2003). Several studies have addressed the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in farmed fish, mainly through their presence in the food pellets (Easton et al., 2002; Antunes and Gil, 2004; Carubelli et al., 2007; Lo Turco et al., 2007). Regarding metal accumulation, few studies have addressed the issue in farmed fish tissues (Alam et al., 2002; Fernandes et al., 2008). Metallic elements are environmentally ubiquitous, readily dissolved and transported by water, and taken up by aquatic organisms. Fish assimilate metals by ingestion of particulate SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 407 (2008) 638 – 646 ⁎ Corresponding author. CIIMAR — Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Laboratório de Toxicologia Ambiental, Rua dos Bragas, 289, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal. Tel.: +351 22 340 18 00; fax: +351 22 339 06 08. E-mail address: mferreira@ciimar.up.pt (M. Ferreira). 0048-9697/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.07.058 available at www.sciencedirect.com www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv