Integrated use of biomarkers and condition indices in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) for monitoring pollution and development of biomarker index to assess the potential toxic of coastal sites.

In this study, we are interested in spatial and temporal variations of the biological and physiological responses of mussels collected from contrasting marine sites regarding their levels of pollution. We measured both the conditions indices and the enzymatic biomarker expression: acetylcholinesterase (AChE), catalase (CAT) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity. The enzymatic biomarkers were chosen because they respond to environmental stress. Results show a significant interactions between biomarker variations and conditions indices in the industrial harbor site throughout the seasons. But no significant changes in the reference site. Furthermore, we classified the sites along the seasons according to their potential ecotoxicity, calculated based on the sum of the normalised values of the biomarkers. The results show a very high biomarker index in the impacted site with irregular changes between seasons. This biomarker index is therefore a valuable tool that could be used to classify the toxic potential of coastal sites.