Effect of methylparaben in Artemia franciscana

In this study, the toxicity of methylparaben (MeP) an emerging contaminant, was analysed in the sexual species Artemia franciscana, due to its presence in coastal areas and marine saltworks in the Mediterranean region. The acute toxicity (24h-LC₅₀) of MeP in nauplii was tested and its chronic effect (9days) evaluated by measuring survival and growth under two sublethal concentrations (0.0085 and 0.017mg/L). Also, the effect on several key enzymes involved in: antioxidant defences (catalase (CAT) and gluthathion-S-transferase (GST)), neural activity (cholinesterase (ChE)) and xenobiotic biotransformation (carboxylesterase (CbE), was assessed after 48h under sublethal exposure. The results of acute exposure indicate that MeP is harmful to A. franciscana (24h-LC₅₀=36.7mg/L). MeP causes a decrease in CAT activity after 48h exposure to both concentration tested, that points out at the oxidative stress effect of MeP in A. franciscana. However, no significant effect on ChE, CbE and GST activities was found. In addition, MeP does not affect survival and growth in chronic exposure at the sublethal concentrations tested. The results of this study indicate that MeP is not a threat for A. franciscana under the experimental conditions used. Additional studies should be done considering long-term exposure and reproduction studies to analyse the potential risk of MeP as emerging contaminant in marine and hypersaline environments.