Analytical microscopy and environment. Current developments using bioindicators of pollution by stable and radioactive elements.
Ecotoxicological investigations were performed on three sets of bioindicators. The first one concerns marine pollution of invertebrates (molluscs: the mussel Mytilus edulis and related species, crustaceans: the crab Liocarcinus puber and related species), contaminated by stable or radioactive elements originating from wastes discharged into sea water. The second one concerns freshwater pollution of vertebrates (fish: the brown trout Salmo trutta fario), contaminated by aluminium dissolved in rivers, as a consequence of an atmospheric pollution by acid rain. The third one concerns the atmospheric pollution of trees by plutonium (Casuarina equisetifolia). Mechanisms involved in the uptake, storage and elimination processes of these toxicants were studied, with a special emphasis on cellular and subcellular aspects of concentration sites. Two microanalytical methods were employed: Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), using the ion microscope and the ion microprobe, and X-ray spectrometry using the electron microprobe (EMP). In marine organisms, the target organs and tissues of bioaccumulation of stable and radioactive elements (238U, 239Pu and 241Am), were shown to be mainly digestive gland, gill and exoskeleton. The target organelles were shown to be spherocrystals and lysosomes. Amoebocytes, enzymatically equipped with lysosomal phosphatase, were involved in the phagocytic clearance of metal pollutants. In trout, insolubilisation of Al phosphate within lysosomes and a high metal concentration within bones were observed. The tree Casuarina equisetifolia exhibits a particular ability to concentrate atmospheric plutonium within its leaves.