Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in European Journal of Histochemistry 59 (2015): 2460, doi:10.4081/ejh.2015.2460.
Description:
The responses of Ammonia parkinsoniana (Foraminifera) exposed to different concentrations of lead (Pb) were evaluated at the cytological level. Foraminifera-bearing sediments were placed in mesocosms that were housed in aquaria each with seawater of a different lead concentration. On the basis of transmission electron microscopy and environmental scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectrometer analyses, it was possible to recognize numerous morphological differences between untreated (i.e., control) and treated (i.e., lead enrichment) specimens. In particular, higher concentrations of this pollutant led to numerical increase of lipid droplets characterized by a more electron-dense core, proliferation of residual bodies, a thickening of the organic lining, mitochondrial degeneration, autophagosome proliferation and the development of inorganic aggregates. All these cytological modifications might be related to the pollutant-induced stress and some of them such as the thickening of organic lining might suggest a potential mechanism of protection adopted by foraminifera.
Description:
This research was partially
supported by the PRIN 2010-2011 Ministero
dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca
(MIUR) (protocollo 2010RMTLYR) to R.C. and by
US NSF grant OCE-1219948 to J.M.B.
Keywords:
Foraminifera
;
Pollution
;
Ultrastructure
;
Mesocosm
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
Format:
application/pdf
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