Stress-70 as indicator of heavy metals accumulation in blue mussel Mytilus edulis

The induction of stress-70 (Hsp70) in the blue mussels Mytilus edulis from southern Baltic after exposure to cadmium, lead and copper, administrated individually and/or as a mixture, was investigated by means of standard Western blotting using a clone 3A3 monoclonal antibody. The general course of the stress-70 induction was found to be similar for all tested metals. It could be characterised by three main features: (1) The induction of stress-70 proteins was only slightly increased at low metal concentration. (2) Strong induction of stress-70 occurred at high concentration of metals. Combination of metals (Cd+Cu) was found to increase the stress-70 level more intensely than related concentrations of singularly applied metals. (3) Five weeks of long depuration had no effect on stress-70 levels. Experiments revealed different induction of stress-70 as a response to cadmium, lead and copper exposure and confirm that the applied technique might serve as a versatile tool to assess invertebrate stress reaction to environmentally relevant heavy metals.