Oil spill in an amazon blackwater environment: Biochemical and physiological responses of local fish species

The accidental spill of petroleum asphalt cement (PAC) in São Raimundo (SR Harbor, located on the Rio Negro (Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil) was monitored through the analysis of polyciclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water and a set of biomarkers in fishes (exposure biomarkes: PAHs-type metabolites concentrations in bile; the activities of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in liver. Effect biomarkers: lipid peroxidation concentration (LPO) in liver, acetylcholinesterase activity in brain, and genotoxic DNA damage in erythrocytes). Two fish species, Acarichthys heckelii and Satanoperca jurupari, were collected 10, 45, and 90 days after the PAC spill in São Raimundo. At the same time, fish were collected from the Tupé Sustainable Development Reserve (Tupé) which served as a reference area. The sampling periods were related to the rising waters of the natural flood pulse of the Rio Negro. Higher concentrations of PAHs in water were observed at 10 and 45 days and returned to the values of TP 90 days after the PAC spill, a period in which harbor waters rose about 0.2 m. Unlike the PAHs in water, biomarker responses in both fish species significantly increased following the PAC spill in SR. Hepatic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), PAH-like metabolites in bile, and erythrocyte DNA damage increases, together with inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the brain were the most evident responses for both fish species. The calculated pyrolytic index showed mixed sources of PAHs (petrogenic and pyrolytic). The applied PCA-FA indicated important relationships between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and PAHs concentrations in water, where DOC and PAHs concentrations contributed to biomarkers responses for both fish species in all collection periods.