Premium
Use of Freshwater Prawn Larval Locomotor Activity and Electrophysiological Recording at the Adult Neuromuscular Junction to Assess the Effects of Urban River Contaminants on Behavior and Nervous System Function
Author(s) -
Crooke Rosado Jonathan,
Rivera Chéverez Nilsa,
Sosa Llorens Maria
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.543.2
Subject(s) - prawn , macrobrachium rosenbergii , population , biology , urbanization , larva , macrobrachium , ecology , environmental science , fishery , zoology , crustacean , decapoda , medicine , environmental health
Puerto Rico's population density is one of the world's highest, with a third of the population concentrated in the northeastern metropolitan area. Urbanization and the resulting anthropogenic activities have an impact on the quality of water resources. We seek to understand how this dramatic level of urban development has impacted the rivers in the area and how these changes affect the behavior and nervous system of aquatic fauna in this habitat. Our lab uses freshwater prawns as model systems to study behavior and its underlying neural mechanisms and modes of regulation. Here we show how prawn larvae can be used to assess the effects of water contaminants on locomotion and the animal´s levels of activity during alternating cycles of light and darkness. Two species of prawns, Macrobrachium rosenbergii and M carcinus , showed opposite responses to the light/dark cycles, the latter also showing a decrease in locomotor activity after exposure to low levels (0.006 mg/L) of dibutyl phthalate, but not of chromium (0.100 mg/L), both contaminants found in Puerto Rico´s rivers. We also present preliminary data on how the prawn's neuromuscular junction may be used to assess potential effects of urban river contaminants on synaptic function.