Aurica Breica Borozan

Use of enzymatic tools for biomonitoring inorganic pollution in aquatic sediments: a case study (Bor, Serbia)

BackgroundSediment bacterial communities are key players in biogeochemical cycling of elements in the aquatic environment. Copper mining, smelting, and processing operations located in Bor area (Serbia) are major environmental hot spots in the lower Danube Basin and Western Balkans. In the present study, we evaluate the influence of trace element (TE) concentration in sediments and physico-chemical properties of water on sediment microbial communities in water streams adjacent to the Copper Smelter Complex Bor (RTB Bor, Serbia). The degree to which metabolic activities of bacterial biota inhabiting differently polluted sites is inhibited by inorganic pollution were compared using selected enzymatic bioindicators.ResultsCu, Zn, Pb, and As concentrations systematically exceeded the target values for metal loadings in aquatic sediments. Water electrical conductivity (WEC) followed the same pattern of spatial variation, irrespective of season. Interestingly, the most intense enzymatic activity occurred at the reference site although this site showed the greatest TE levels in aquatic sediments. Catalase activity (CA), potential dehydrogenase activity (PDA), actual dehydrogenase activity (ADA), urease activity (UA), and phosphatase activity (PA) in aquatic sediments displayed heterogeneous patterns of spatio-temporal variation. Inorganic pollution greatly affected CA, ADA, and PDA, but much less so UA and PA. Canonical correlation analysis showed that pH and WEC were the strongest determinants of enzymatic activity in bacterial biota, with the latter variable being reversely correlated with the enzymatic indicator of sediment quality (EISQ). The median values of EISQ increased with distance from the major sources of pollution. In addition, it was found that sites with different degrees of inorganic pollution can be appropriately classified by applying cluster analysis to EISQ, TE levels in sediments, and physico-chemical properties of water.ConclusionsBecause EISQ can precisely identify changes in overall enzymatic activity of sediment bacterial communities, this enzymatic bioindicator has a great potential for biomonitoring the current status of inorganic pollution in aquatic ecosystems.

Investigation on Crude and High-Temperature Heated Coffee Oil by ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy along with Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties

The coffee oil has a promising potential to be used in food industry, but an efficient use, especially in products that required high-temperature heating, depends on its chemical composition and the changes induced by processing. Since there is little information on this topic, the aim of our study was to investigate the crude green and roasted coffee oil (GCO, RCO) and heated (HGCO, HRCO) for 1 h at 200°C, by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and in terms of antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The results of FTIR spectroscopy revealed that no statistically significant differences (one-way ANOVA, p>0.05) in the oxidative status of GCO and RCO were found. The coffee oils heating induced significant spectral changes in the regions 3100–3600 cm–1, 2800–3050 cm–1 and 1680–1780 cm–1 proved by the differences in the absorbance ratios A 3009 cm−1/A 2922 cm−1, A 3009 cm−1/A 2853 cm−1, A 3009 cm−1/A 1744 cm−1, A 1744 cm−1/A 2922 cm−1. These alterations were related to the reduction of the unsaturation degree due to primary and secondary oxidation processes of the lipid fraction. The radical scavenging ability of oils investigated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay revealed that the IC50 value of GCO was significantly lower than of RCO (p<0.05). The IC50 values of crude coffee oils were lower than those of heated samples. The antioxidant activity of oils was attributed to both antioxidant compounds with free-radical scavenging capacity and to lipids oxidation products generated by heating. In the first 6 h of incubation, the inhibitory activity of crude oils against E. coli and E. faecalis was not significantly different to the control (p>0.05). Also, HGCO and HRCO showed significantly different inhibitory potential related to the control (p<0.05). The heating induced statistically significant decreases in the effectiveness of coffee oils against the tested bacteria. GCO proved to be the most effective among investigated coffee oils against the tested bacteria.

Use of Land Snails (Pulmonata) for Monitoring Copper Pollution in Terrestrial Ecosystems

The term bioindicator defines organisms that respond to a pollutant load with changes in vital functions or accumulate pollutants (Arndt et al. 1987). The use of bioindicator organisms may allow researchers to evaluate the effects of mixtures of pollutants on ecosystems in time and space, depending on the selected species and approach (Hellawell 1986). In contrast, simple instrumental analyses of pollutants can provide extremely precise data about their accumulation in organisms, but they do not clearly reveal how different chemicals interact when they cooccur in complex mixtures (Maynard 2004). Bioindicator organisms are often used in environmental monitoring programs “to assess the condition of the environment, to provide an early warning signal of changes in the environment, or to diagnose the cause of an environmental problem” (Dale and Beyeler 2001). Such studies are designed to mirror the quality of natural environments and can either be passive, when bioindicator organisms are native inhabitants of the ecosystem, or active, when organisms of a known biological past are inserted into the site to be monitored (Markert 2007).