The use of a battery of biomarkers (of exposure and/or effect to xenobiotic contamination) as surrogate measures of biological impact within field studies has been made along the South Coast of Algarve

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The use of biomarkers (of exposure and/or effect to xenobiotic contamination) as surrogate measures of biological impact of contaminants within the environment has been studied in several European coastal areas. However, the incorporation of biomarkers into regulatory legislation for environmental risk assessment has rarely been used. Moreover, the approval of the Water Framework Directive by the European Union offers the potential for the incorporation of biomarkers as an integrated approach in environmental management. With this aim several biomarkers of exposure and/or effect were measured in several tissues of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis collected from several hot spots along the South Coast of Portugal. The biomarkers used were: superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathion peroxidases (total and selenium dependent) cytochrome P450 (CYP450), glutathione-S-transferases (GST), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), metallothioneins (MT), δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALA-D), lipid peroxidation (LPO) along with the condition index to assess the mussels health status. The data of this battery of biomarkers was used in an integrated manner to classify the health status of these invertebrates and consequently of this coastal ecosystem. A biomarker index was calculated using several approaches. The use of this index enabled to highlight that despite metals and organic contaminants present in their tissues, mussels from six of the eight sites, were in good health while those from the two sites were seriously affected by environmental contamination. Therefore, the use of this index provides a useful tool of assessment, since it integrates a suite of biomarkers of exposure and/or effect, facilitating the definition of risk sorting and ultimately offering an easier way for “decision makers” to assess the quality of the aquatic environment.