Acclimatable cardiac and ventilatory responses to copper in the freshwater crayfish Procambarus clarkii

Mortality and physiological tests following exposure to waterborne copper were performed in the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii from a central Italian population. Mortality tests gave an estimated 96 h LC50 value (with 95% confidence limits) of 162 (132-211) mg L(-1) waterborne copper II. Variations in cardiac and ventilatory rates were simultaneously monitored using a non-invasive plethysmographic technique. In experiments with different sub-lethal copper concentrations (control, 0.5, 1 and 10 mg L(-1)) performed at different times (3, 6, 96 h), copper exposure elicited a reduction in both heart and scaphognatite rates. Following exposure to 10 mg L(-1) copper for 96 h, the heart and scaphognatite rates decreased to about 35% of the initial values. The reduction was fully reversible, since crayfish exposed to 0.5, 1 and 10 mg Cu L(-1) for 96 h resumed control rates after a 3-h residence in clean water. In crayfish pre-exposed (96 h) to sub-lethal copper concentrations (0.1 and 1 mg L(-1)) and then held in control water (3 h), the reduction of heart and scaphognatite rates after exposure to 10 mg Cu L(-1) were significantly lower than in specimens pre-exposed to control water. Therefore, copper induces a concentration and time dependent reduction of both cardiac and ventilatory activity in P. clarkii; these responses can be reduced or fully abolished by pre-exposure to sub-lethal levels of the metal.