Étude, par émission ionique secondaire, de l'accumulation du Rubidium dans les tissus mous de l'huître Crassostrea gigas (Mollusque, Lamellibranche)

• Main Authors: SALAÜN, Marie-Lise, TRUCHET, Michel
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR) 1996
• Subjects: Crassostrea gigas
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.21411/cbm.a.2fa1d520; http://application.sb-roscoff.fr/cbm/doi/10.21411/CBM.A.2FA1D520

Sims investigation of Rubidium accumulation in the soft tissues of the oyster Crassostrea gigas (Mollusc, Bivalve). When marine organisms are exposed to pollutant metals, one of the main issues to be investigate is how these metals can be recognized by the membrane transporters. The first elements of the periodic table are the alkali metals and it is well documented in vertebrates that rubidium is exchanged at a high rate with potassium, without toxicity. Our purpose was to study the effect of Rb in the human food organism, Crassostrea gigas. Rubidium was added to the artificial sea water as chloride salts to replace some of the sodium ions at the concentrations of 0.3 g.l-1 (3.4 mM Rb+), 1 g.l-1 (11.5 mM Rb+) and 3 g.l-1 (34 mM Rb+). Some animals were exposed to water with K instead of Rb ions. All these modifications were toxic for the animals and histological observations reveal high tissue disorganization. The rubidium is strongly present in all tissues, as revealed by SIMS analysis. Rubidium is widely and somewhat uniformly distributed, but some Rb accumulated in specific areas identified as polyanionic sites. Our results reveal clearly that rubidium is toxic for oysters, but this toxicity may be due mainly to the ionic modification, i.e. the replacement of Na by Rb because the same is observed when Na is replaced by K. As in Vertebrates, Rb crosses easily the membrane barrier, likely by the channels and K-pumps. But some specific bioaccumulations led us to conclude that Rb metabolism is not exactly similar to that of K.