ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF THE TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT IN SKIKDA REGION (ALGERIA) USING ENZYMATIC ACTIVITY AND ENERGY RESERVE CONTENTS OF LAND SNAILS, CANTAREUS ASPERSUS - N. Zaidi; L. Douafer; A. Hamdani; N. E. Soltani (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2022)
Environmental pollution is one of the most significant issues in industrial regions. Land snails are commonly used as suitable organisms to monitor environmental pollution. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the effects of anthropogenic pollution on biochemical biomarkers in land snails, Cantareus aspersus. Snails were obtained from four sites of northeastern Algeria, namely El-hadaiek, Azzaba, Ben-Azzouz (Skikda city) and El-Kala (E-Taref city). The sites of Skikda city were selected in this study because of their proximity to industrial factories, while the El-Kala site was used as a reference site (control site) for its far location from pollution sources. Moreover, the enzymatic activities of glutathione S-transferase (GST) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and the three energy reserves (glycogens, lipids and proteins) were measured in the digestive gland of snails collected from each site during the winter and spring seasons. The results revealed a significant variation in the AChE activity and energy reserves between sites and seasons, along with significant correlationsbetween the enzymatic and non-enzymatic biomarkers. The highest activity of GST and total proteins were observed during spring in snails of Azzaba site, identified as the closest site to potential pollution sources. In addition, AChE activity was significantly decreased during spring, as well as depletion of lipid and glycogen contents with the highest values was recorded in the site of Azzaba. Conclusively, the land snails, C. aspersus are proven as sentinel organisms effectively used in biomonitoring of terrestrial environment in Skikda region.
Keywords: journal article; Pollution; Cantareus aspersus; Biomarkers; Energy reserves; Oxidative stress; Skikda city