| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4419816 | Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety | 2015 | 8 Pages |
•This study tests Armadillo officinalis as bioindicator of exposure to benzene.•Benzene was detected in exoskeleton of A. officinalis by GC–MS.•Muconic acid was detected in hepatopancreas and other tissue of A. officinalis.•S-phenylmercapturic acid was detected in hepatopancreas and other tissue of A. officinalis.•mtDNA copy number increase was related to rising benzene doses.•For first time our findings showed that A. officinalis reproduce human metabolism.
This study tests the potential for using Armadillo officinalis as a bioindicator of exposure to and activation of benzene metabolic pathways using an in vivo model.A. officinalis specimens collected in a natural reserve were divided into a control and three test groups exposed to 2.00, 5.32 or 9.09 µg/m3 benzene for 24 h. Three independent tests were performed to assess model reproducibility. Animals were dissected to obtain three pooled tissue samples per group: hepatopancreas (HEP), other organs and tissues (OOT), and exoskeleton (EXO). Muconic acid (MA), S-phenylmercapturic acid (S-PMA), two human metabolites of benzene, and changes in mtDNA copy number, a human biomarker of benzene exposure, were determined in each sample; benzene was determined only in EXO. MA was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet (UV) detection, S-PMA by triple quadrupole mass spectrometer liquid chromatography with electro spray ionization (LC-MS-ESI-TQD), mtDNA by real-time quantitative PCR and end-point PCR, and benzene by quadrupole mass spectrometer head-space gas chromatography (HSGC-MS).MA and S-PMA levels rose both in HEP and OOT; EXO exhibited increasing benzene concentrations; and mtDNA copy number rose in HEP but not in OOT samples. Overall, our findings demonstrate that A. officinalis is a sensitive bioindicator of air benzene exposure and show for the first time its ability to reproduce human metabolic dynamics.
