Abstract
Heavy metals are one of the most common pollutants in environment. The aim of this work was to test the hypothesis assuming that one of mechanisms of toxic action of copper, cadmium and lead on invertebrates’ organisms is adaptive activation of cholinergic synaptic transmission. In experiments with two free-living soil nematodes, namely Caenorhabditis elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae, it has been shown that Cu2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+ ions at concentrations of 60 and 120 µM enhanced the negative effects of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors agonist levamisole on the nematodes’ organisms. Under combined action of levamisole and heavy metals on organisms of C. elegans and C. briggsae the mean time of nematodes paralysis (complete loss of the ability to swim) was reduced. The results of this work show that nematodes C. elegans and C. briggsae can be used as model organisms to study mechanisms of toxic action of heavy metals.
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