Validation of selected biomarkers in invertebrates from the polluted silesian region

摘要

A number of technological changes has led to an improvement in the condition of the heavily polluted region of Upper Silesia. Nevertheless,organisms living in this area are exposed to a combination of toxic chemicals at levels exceeding those permissible by the environmetnal law. In this report some research activities from our laboratory, concentrated on application of biomonitoring and biomarkers in terrestrial invertebrates from this region to monitoring programmes, are presented. Their advantages, validation and constraints are discussed. Non-specific biomarkers, such as metabolism rates of intact animals and general indices of energetic processes - adenine nucleotide concentrations, and the adenylate energy charge (AEC)- were studied in various groups of insects and spiders. These biomarkers are also affected by many non-chemcial factors. It is difficult to separate toxic effects from natural factors since time-related assays with the same organisms often produced significantly different results.