KSU TARIM VE DOGA DERGISI-KSU JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURE, vol.25, no.1, pp.31-41, 2022 (ESCI)
In this study, freshwater mussels (Unio tigridis) were exposed to different concentrations (0, 30, 90 mu g L-1) of copper (as CuSO4) for different durations (0, 7, 14, 21 days) and then the responses of the antioxidant enzymes such as, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were investigated. Mussels were fed with the unicellular algae (Cholorella vulgaris) (approximately 300,000 algae ml(-1)) cultured in the laboratory conditions. There was no mussel mortality following copper exposures. Likewise, there was no significant (P<0.05) increases in antioxidant enzyme activities in the gill and hepatopancreas, exposure durations playing predominant roles. Since enzymes such as CAT and SOD are the first defense lines of the antioxidant systems, the most increases were observed in the activities of these enzymes. Despite this, there was no significant change in total protein levels of tissues (P>0.05). This study showed that that sublethal and low copper concentrations could have toxic effects for mussels, emphasizing oxidative stress of mussels.