Oxidative metabolism of chemical pollutants in marine organisms: molecular and biochemical biomarkers in environmental toxicology.

Oxidative stress biomarkers are widely used in marine ecotoxicology. Environmental pollutants enhance intracellular formation of oxyradicals through several mechanisms, but complex oxidative interactions occur in response to chemical mixtures. Metabolism of individual classes of pollutants can be influenced by a sophisticated network of prooxidant relationships, reciprocal and cascade effects, changes of redox-sensitive signaling proteins, and transcription factors. Chemically mediated pathways can affect antioxidant responses at different levels, including pretranscriptional, transcriptional, protein, and catalytic functions; such mechanisms remain largely unexplored in marine organisms. Molecular responses of antioxidants are frequently not paralleled by expected biochemical changes or cellular effects, and caution is needed when interpreting the effects of environmental pollutants. Results on antioxidant variations can be influenced by mRNA stability and protein turnover, different timing for transcriptional and translational mechanisms, metabolic capability of tissues, posttranscriptional modifications of proteins, biphasic responses of antioxidant enzymes, and adaptation mechanisms to chronic pollution.