Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Inducible Metabolism Of Fluoranthene By The Opportunistic Polychaete Capitella Sp. I, Valery E. Forbes, Thomas L. Forbes, Marianne Holmer

Valery Forbes Publications

The polychaete Capitella sp. I has been described as an enrichment opportunist and is one of very few species able to thrive in highly organic sediments heavily contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and other organic pollutants. We examined 3 plausible explanations for the success of Capitella sp. 1: (1) worms prevent uptake of PAH across body surfaces, (2) worms take up PAH but metabolize them effectively to excretable forms, and (3) worms utilize PAH as a carbon source. We examined the uptake and depuration of sediment-associated fluoranthene by Capitella sp. 1 and measured the metabolic loss of ingested 3-[ …