Biochemical and osmoregulatory responses of the African clawed frog experimentally exposed to salt and pesticide

Salinization and pollution are two main environmental stressors leading deterioration to water quality and degradation of aquatic ecosystems. Amphibians are a highly sensitive group of vertebrates to environmental disturbance of aquatic ecosystems. However, studies on the combined effect of salinization and pollution on the physiology of amphibians are limited. In this study, we measured the standard metabolic rate (SMR) and biochemical parameters of adult males of the invasive frog Xenopus laevis after 45 days of exposure to contrasting salinity environments (400 and 150 mOsm NaCl) with either 1.0 mu g/L of the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) or pesticide-free medium. Our results revealed a decrease in SMR of animals exposed to the pesticide and in the ability to concentrate the plasma in animals exposed simultaneously to both stressors. The lack of ability to increase plasma concentration in animals exposed to both salt water and CPF, suggests that osmoregulatory response is decreased by pesticide exposure. In addition, we found an increase of liver citrate synthase activity in response to salt stress. Likewise, the liver acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity decreased by 50% in frogs exposed to salt water and CPF and 40% in those exposed only to CPF, which suggest an additive effect of salinity on inhibition of AChE. Finally, oxidative stress increased as shown by the higher lipid peroxidation and concentration of aqueous peroxides found in the group exposed to salt water and pesticide. Thus, our results revealed that X. laevis physiology is compromised by salinization and pesticide exposure to both environmental stressors join.

Automated summary

Salinization and pollution are two main environmental stressors that lead to deterioration of water quality and degradation of aquatic ecosystems. This study found that amphibians exposed to salinization and pesticide experienced compromised physiological functions, including decreased standard metabolic rate, reduced ability to concentrate plasma, increased liver citrate synthase activity, decreased liver acetylcholinesterase activity, and increased oxidative stress.