Abstract
The diffuse use of lithium in a number of industrial processes has produced a significant contamination of groundwater and surface water with it. The increased use of lithium has generated only scarce studies on its concentrations in ambient waters and on its effects on aquatic organisms. Only few contributions have focused on the toxicity of lithium in marine organisms (such as marine animals, algae and vegetables), showing that the toxic effect depends on the animal species. In the present study we describe the morphological and the molecular effects of lithium chloride (LiCl), using the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus as a model organism. We show that LiCl, if added to the eggs before fertilization, induces malformations in the embryos in a dose-dependent manner. We have also followed by RT qPCR the expression levels of thirty seven genes (belonging to different classes of functional processes, such as stress, development, differentiation, skeletogenesis and detoxifications) to identify the molecular targets of LiCl. This study opens new perspectives for the understanding of the mechanism of action of lithium on marine organisms. The findings may also have relevance outside the world of marine organisms since lithium is widely prescribed for the treatment of human bipolar disorders.
Highlights
Lithium is abundantly present in the earth’s crust[1]: it typically forms salts like phosphates, silicates, and micas[2,3]
The toxic effect of lithium chloride (LiCl) on embryonic development has been explored on different model organisms, such as squid, Xenopus, zebrafish and sea urchin[46,47,48,49,50]
Work on P. lividus sea urchin embryos, the species used in the present study, has demonstrated that lithium acts as a larval vegetalizing agent, i.e., it acts by enhancing the endoderm-mesoderm structures at the expense of the ectoderm[55]
Summary
Lithium is abundantly present in the earth’s crust[1]: it typically forms salts like phosphates, silicates, and micas[2,3]. Lithium is transported into soils where it can be potentially toxic to plants[3]. It is present in river’s water, in brine, and in drinking waters. The lithium content ingested from food has been estimated at 2 milligrams per day, the primary source being grains and vegetables[3]. Clear results on the concentration of lithium in marine environment are not available to evaluate its toxicity. A few data are available on the distribution and toxicity of lithium in the aquatic environment in the United States[10]. Lithium toxicity has raised concerns, given its widespread use to treat bipolar disorders[11,12]. The lithium-induced inositol depletion, and the consequent disturbance of the Ca2+ signaling operation, affect the behavior of neurons in culture, impairing neurotransmission and altering growth cone and the cytoskeleton[19,20]
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