Assessing the Effect of Contaminated and Restored Marine Sediments in Different Experimental Mesocosms Using an Integrated Approach and Mytilus galloprovincialis as a Model

Abstract
The research presented here was conducted to ascertain the effectiveness of recovery technologies in remediating a compromised
marine environment. The multidisciplinary approach aims to integrate traditional chemical-physical analysis and to assess the
biological parameters of Mytilus galloprovincialis within different experimental mesocosms (W, G, and B). In particular, this
system was designed to reproduce sediment resuspension in a marine environment, which is thought to be one cause of
contaminant release. The study combined morphological and ultrastructural observations with DNA damage assessment and
mRNA expression of those genes involved in cellular stress responses. The tissues of mussels maintained in the polluted
mesocosm showed a higher accumulation of Pb and Hg than in those maintained in restored mesocosm. This observation
correlates well with mRNA expression of MT10 and data on DNA damage. The outcome of the biological evaluation consolidates the chemical characterization and supports the concept that the remediation method should be evaluated at an early stage,
both to analytically determine the reduction of toxic components and to assess its ultimate impact on the biological system.