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The influence of low-dose cadmium on the laryngeal microstructure and ultrastructure of Pelophylax nigromaculata

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Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the common heavy metals dispersed throughout the modern environment that disrupts the development of aquatic organisms. Amphibians appear to be particularly vulnerable to this heavy metal contaminant since their eggs and aquatic larvae live in aquatic habitats and have permeable skin. During this critical sensitive period, amphibians live primarily in the water and are thus susceptible to the effects of environmental pollutants in water. Pelophylax nigromaculata completes their laryngeal development from Gosner stage 19 (GS 19, embryonic stage) to GS 46 (metamorphosis stage). To study whether long-term (from GS 19 to GS 46) exposure to low Cd concentrations (0, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 μg/L) affects the development of the larynx in P. nigromaculata, a comparative study of microstructures and ultrastructures of female and male P. nigromaculata larynges was carried out. In histological structure, the larynx was composed of epithelial tissue, skeletal muscle, and hyaline cartilage, and there were no differences between male and female frogs except that males had a larger cross-section area than females. In contrast to controls, 64 and 128 μg/L Cd treatments caused a significant decrease in cross-sectional area, while other treatments showed no significant differences. Under the scanning electron microscope, the surface of the larynx could be seen to be attached to developed and evenly distributed cilia, with no significant differences between young male and female frogs, even among the Cd treatments. Under transmission electron microscopy, developed laryngeal epithelial cells could be observed, with obvious cross striations of skeletal muscle cells and mitochondria distributed around the muscle and skeletal muscle satellite cells. Compared with the control group, mitochondria around the skeletal muscle grew in size and decreased in number in the high-concentration treatment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31300342), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No. 2014 M561683), and Anhui Provincial Key Project of Higher Education Institutions for Excellent Visiting Scholar (gxfxZD 2016173, 2016172). We sincerely thank Dr. Hong-Yuan Wang for his help in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210023, China

    Ren-Yan Duan

  2. College of Life Sciences, Anqing Normal University, Anqing, Anhui, 246011, China

    Ren-Yan Duan & Min-Yi Huang

  3. Anhui Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Research and Ecological Conservation on Southwest Anhui, Anqing, Anhui, 246011, China

    Ren-Yan Duan & Min-Yi Huang

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  1. Ren-Yan Duan
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  2. Min-Yi Huang
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Correspondence to Ren-Yan Duan.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Table S1 The metamorphic days under different exposure period. (DOC 14 kb)

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Duan, RY., Huang, MY. The influence of low-dose cadmium on the laryngeal microstructure and ultrastructure of Pelophylax nigromaculata . Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 17322–17331 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6942-4

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