pollution – Laboratoire LEMAR UMR 6539

Compound-specific recording of gadolinium pollution in coastal waters by great scallops

Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs), routinely used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), end up directly in coastal seawaters where gadolinium concentrations are now increasing. Because many aquatic species could be sensitive to this new pollution, we have evaluated the possibility of using shellfish to assess its importance. Gadolinium excesses recorded by scallop shells collected in Bay of Brest (Brittany, France) for more than 30 years do not reflect the overall consumption in GBCAs, but are largely controlled by one of them, the gadopentetate dimeglumine. Although its use has been greatly reduced in Europe over the last ten years, gadolinium excesses are still measured in shells. Thus, some gadolinium derived from other GBCAs is bioavailable and could have an impact on marine wildlife.

Fig. 3b : Gadolinium anomalies (a: Gd/Gd*), gadolinium excesses (b: ΔGd) recorded by scallop shells sampled from 1960 to 2018 in Bay of Brest, and GBCA consumption in France recorded in the Medic’AM database²² maintained by the CPAM (French Health Insurance agency) (c: total consumption and macrocyclic GBCAs, d: linear GBCAs).

These excesses in scallop shells (ΔGd = 0–2.3 ng/g) display a complex temporal evolution (Fig. 3b). The oldest sample collected in 1960, before the use of GBCAs, does not show any significant excess in gadolinium. A marked increase in gadolinium excesses is seen from 1989 to 2005, followed by a sharp decline until 2010 when normal levels are observed again. Afterwards, the excesses seem to increase again without reaching the 2005 maximum, but the data show some spread. Such an evolution is unexpected because the use of GBCAs has always been increasing since their introduction on the market. It could depend on the bioavailability of anthropogenic gadolinium as determined by its speciation in seawater.

Reference

Le Goff, S., Barrat, J.-A., Chauvaud, L., Paulet, Y.-M., Gueguen, B., & Salem, D. B. (2019). Compound-specific recording of gadolinium pollution in coastal waters by great scallops. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 8015. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44539-y

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03/06/2019/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

GDR “Polymers and Oceans”

thematic partnerships

The environmental issues related to the presence of plastics are now unanimously recognized. The national (governments) and international (European Union, United Nations) institutions have taken action to better understand the consequences of the presence of these plastic debris in the environment and to try to reduce their releases

The mission of the GDR “Polymers and Oceans”, recently created under the aegis of the CNRS, is to federate the French scientific community (composed by chemists, physicists, biologists, ecologists, ecotoxicologists, oceanographers, economists and sociologists) working on the fate of plastics in the environment to support the emergence of multi-scale and new interdisciplinary research.

The main objectives of this GDR are:

to define the main scientific questions and methodological obstacles around this topic;
to structure very diverse scientific communities and facilitate the establishment of scientific and technical collaborations between disciplinary fields to support multidisciplinary approaches that are essential to meet the challenges of this topic;
to promote collaboration between academic research and industrial research/innovation in relation to competitiveness clusters (e.g. Brittany-Atlantic and Mediterranean MER Poles, IAR) and learned societies (e.g. SFP, SCF, GFP) ;
play an active role in the implementation of new experimental protocols to assess the fate of polymers in the aquatic environment ;
create an information exchange platform offering an open window to respond to the many requests from economic actors, the media, NGOs and politicians and influence institutional prospects ;
participate in the dissemination of scientific knowledge acquired through the organization of an annual national conference and thematic schools.

More information on the website of the first meetings of this GDR

Ika Paul-Pont and Arnaud Huvet are involved in the scientific council of this GDR.

06/03/2019/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

The mission of the GDR “Polymers and Oceans” is to federate and improve the visibility of the French scientific community involved in research on the fate of polymers in the aquatic environment.

Adaptive physiological and behavioural responses of organisms to multiple environmental stresses

Panorama-thematic, research thematic

observation, experimentation and modelling

One of the great strengths of the PANORAMA team lies in the study of the physiological and behavioural responses of marine organisms to environmental constraints, whether of biotic or abiotic origin. The team strives to understand the effects of factors related to climate change (warming, acidification, hypoxia, nutritional constraints) and/or emerging pollutants on different species present mainly in coastal areas, in a monofactorial or multistress manner. In particular, it is developing approaches in ecotoxicology aimed at studying, on different models, the impact of micro- and nanoplastics, for which our laboratory is a precursor, or that of toxic microalgae, which also represents one of the laboratory’s strengths, or even that of diffuse pollution. We have exceptional structures and experimental and observation means that allow us to monitor the effect of these disturbances and contaminants, in large volumes and over the entire life cycle of the organisms: gametes, embryos, larvae, juveniles and adults. Thanks to this, we also understand the inter- and trans-generational effects of contaminants, pollutants, toxic microalgae and their toxins. Our experimental approaches are complemented by parallel studies in the natural environment where observational monitoring (e.g. monitoring of toxic microalgae blooms) and in situ experiments (e.g. caging experiments) are carried out. Our laboratory is very present in Brest, in the framework of sustained collaborations with CEDRE and ANSES, but also at the national level, with active participation in the GdR Aquatic Ecotoxicology, and the animation of the GdR PHYCOTOX and the GdR “Polymers and Oceans”. Our approach integrates all levels of biological organisation thanks to the new “omics” approaches in ecotoxicology, in association with cell biology, histology and eco-physiology measurements. We complete this coupling of observation and experimentation with modelling in conjunction with the “Coupling” Transverse Axis and the modellers of the DISCOVERY team.

05/10/2018/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

Our approaches in ecotoxicology consider the impact on marine organisms of emerging pollutants, toxic micro-algae, but also the effects of diffuse pollution and multi-stress

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