ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1674599
Comparative Analysis of Immunomodulatory Biomarker Responses in Clams Meretrix meretrix and Mactra veneriformis to Waterborne Cadmium Exposure
Provisionally accepted
- Shandong University of Aeronautics, Binzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Bivalves are important indicator species for cadmium (Cd) pollution, however, the differential detoxification and physiological responses to Cd exposure among co-occurring bivalve species have not been thoroughly studied. This study investigated alterations in metallothionein (MT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the digestive gland and gills of clam species Meretrix meretrix and Mactra veneriformis following exposure to cadmium (Cd) at concentrations of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 mg/L over a period of 7 days. The results indicated that gill tissue, due to its direct contact with the environment and high metabolic activity, exhibited significantly greater variations in SOD, MT, and MDA contents compared to the digestive gland, rendering it more sensitive to Cd stress and suitable for acute toxicity monitoring. M. veneriformis demonstrated a faster and more pronounced response, with significant alterations in biomarker levels observed in the gills at early stages even under low Cd exposure. However, its detoxification system, specifically MT synthesis reached saturation more readily; under high Cd concentrations, biomarker levels peaked and subsequently declined rapidly, indicating the potential for the early onset of irreversible damage. In contrast, M. meretrix exhibited a gradual adaptive response, maintaining homeostasis via sustained MT synthesis, which reflects a higher tolerance to Cd stress. MDA contents showed significant early increases in both species' gills, especially under low Cd concentrations, highlighting its value as both an early-warning indicator and a preferred biomarker for Cd pollution monitoring. The study provides candidate indicator species and identifies sensitive biomarkers for Cd biomonitoring in regions such as the Yellow River Delta and a theoretical basis for improving ecological risk assessment.
Keywords: Cadmium, Meretrix meretrix, Mactra veneriformis, Metallothionein, Superoxide Dismutase, Malondialdehyde
Received: 28 Jul 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ren, Zhang, Liu, Zhang, Zhang and Shang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zaiwang Zhang, zzwangbzu@163.com
Bingshen Liu, liubingshen16@163.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.