Abstract

Marine biodiversity is increasingly at risk because of coastal contamination. Biomarkers of pollutant exposure can be very useful for marine biodiversity conservation. The aim of this research was to validate the enzymatic activities (catalase, esterase, α-amylase and acetylcholinesterase) of Orchestia gammarellus in several sites of Tangier’s bay to improve predictive performance of responses to coastal environmental pollutants. Our results showed a significant increase of catalase (e.g. there was an augment from 0.6±0.2 µmol/min/µg of proteins in individuals sampled from Mnar to 5.0±0.7 µmol/min/µg of proteins in those taken from Port). Esterase activity was significantly decreased (e.g. there was a decrease from 8.2 ± 1.5 nmol of formed β-naphthol/min/mg of proteins in individuals sampled from Mnar to 2.6 ± 0.9 nmol of formed β-naphthol/min/mg of proteins in those taken from Port). Acetylcholinesterase activity’s level exhibited a significant difference between individuals taken from Mnar (7.6±1.4 µmol/min/mg of proteins) and those taken from Port (3.1±0.6 µmol/min/mg of proteins). There was a significant difference in the proteins level between individuals taken from Mnar (1.2 ± 0.3 µg/mg of fresh weight) and those collected from Port (0.3±0.1 µg/mg of fresh weight). The level of consumed starch showed a significant difference between individuals taken from Mnar (9.8±0.4 µg/min/fresh weight) and those taken from Port (8.5 ± 0.4 µg/min/fresh weight).

Key words: Acetylcholinesterase, biodiversity conservation, catalase, esterase, Orchestia gammarellus, α-amylase