Investigation of landfill leachate toxic potency: An integrated approach with the use of stress indices in tissues of mussels

The present study investigates the harmful impacts of landfill leachate release and/or disposal into the marine environment, as well as its ability to induce lethal and pre-pathological alterations in marine organisms, such as the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. In specific, mortality test (96 h), performed first in order to estimate leachate lethal endpoints, showed increased levels of mussel mortality after exposure to leachate higher than 0.5%, v/v (96 h LC50 = 0.526%, v/v), while the exposure to 0.01 and 0.1% (v/v) of leachate showed negligible levels of mortality (96 h LC10 = 0.167%, v/v). Furthermore, the estimation of lysosomal membrane integrity in hemocytes of exposed mussels (Neutral Red Retention Time assay) showed increased levels of lysosomal destabilization in cells of mussels exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of leachate (0.01, 0.1 and 0.5%, v/v) for 4 days. In order to exclude parameters, such as mussel mortality and cell death, which could interfere with the obtained results, leachate at final concentrations of 0.01 and 0.1% (v/v) were finally used for the estimation of a battery of stress indices in target tissues of mussels, such as hemolymph, gills and digestive gland. According to the results, leachate-exposed mussels showed a significant inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity, increased levels of nuclear abnormalities, as well as increased levels of metallothionein, superoxide anion and lipid peroxides (in terms of malondialdehyde equivalents) in each tissue tested. The results of the present study clearly indicate leachate-induced lethal effects as well as the ability of leachate to induce disturbances on different levels of organism function before mortality occurs.

► Leachate induces mortality of mussels and their cell death at very low doses. ► Prepathological alterations occur in tissues of leachate-exposed mussels. ► Alterations of stress indices reveal neurotoxic and genotoxic potency of leachate. ► Leachate could induce oxidative damage in tissues of leachate-exposed mussels.