Cholinesterase activities and sensitivity to pesticides in different tissues of silver European eel, Anguilla anguilla

Cholinesterase (ChE) activities were characterized in silver European eel, Anguilla anguilla, grown in the brackish lagoon of Comacchio (Italy). All specimens were harvested at the “lavoriero”, a traditional eel trapping weir that captures eels while leaving internal waters at the onset of reproductive migration. To our knowledge, no investigation on ChE was reported in silver eels. Therefore a first characterization of enzyme activity in muscle, brain, liver and plasma of silver eel was carried out, in the presence of different substrates, selective inhibitors, and four pesticides representative of the carbamate and organophosphate classes. Brain and white skeletal muscle showed similar ChE activities, 5- and 10-fold higher than those detected in liver and plasma, respectively. Km values of 0.31 and 0.30 mM, and Vmax values of 40.28 and 35.47 nmol min-1 mg protein-1 were obtained in brain and muscle ChE, respectively. Acetycholinesterase was the predominant ChE form in all tissues, as concluded by comparing the effects of BW 284c51, iso-OMPA and eserine. ChE activities in brain and muscle were significantly inhibited by in vitro treatment with pesticides, with the following order of potency: carbofuran > carbaryl > chlorpyrifos ≥ diazinon.