Immunological responses in the mussel Mytilus trossulus transplanted at the coastline of the northern Baltic Sea

• We tested the applicability of immune responses as biomarkers in transplanted Baltic blue mussels.
• Mussels were differently affected at differently contaminated caging sites.
• We suggest the implementation of immunotoxic biomarkers for the evaluation of ecosystem health.
• The assessment of immune responses should be accompanied by the biomarkers of different endpoints.

The applicability of immune responses in transplanted Baltic blue mussels (Mytilus trossulus) as biomarkers of immunotoxic effects was studied at differently contaminated locations in the Gulf of Bothnia (northern Baltic Sea). Here, we present a detailed report on the immune responses measured as complementary part of transplantation study by Turja et al. (2014).Various immunological endpoints such as total and differential cell count, morphological alterations, phagocytic activity, and caspase 3/7 activity of mussel haemocytes as well as haemolytic activity of the haemolymph were used. Mussels collected at a reference site at a Finnish coastal site (Hanko, H) were transplanted at the Swedish coast near industrial and urban regions of the cities Sundsvall (S1, S2) and Gävle (G1, G2), respectively. Based on the measured immunological responses, multivariate statistical analysis (PCA biplot) showed a clear separation of the most polluted site S1, indicating immunotoxic impacts of the mixture of contaminants present at this location. Based on these observations and results from Turja et al. (2014), we suggest the implementation of immunotoxic biomarkers for the evaluation of ecosystem health. However, these should be accompanied by complementary endpoints of biological effects encompassing i.e., physiological, antioxidant and bioenergetic markers.