BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.41.92// CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH UID:39396365-3338-4735-a663-636635396232 X-WR-CALNAME:BayCMS-Export X-WR-CALDESC:This is a calendar exported from BayCMS X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/Berlin BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Berlin TZUNTIL:20041031T010000Z BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20021027T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 RDATE:20031026T030000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20020331T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 RDATE:20030330T020000 RDATE:20040328T020000 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de-bayceer-t53254id DTSTAMP:20260817T102007Z DESCRIPTION:The use of biomarkers is now a common approach in ecotoxicolog y. Biomarkers are biological parameters which measure behavior\, biochemis try\, physiology and genomic structure and expression\, and are used as ea rly signals of disturbances at the individual level. If disturbances origi nate from pollution\, biomarkers then unambiguously express the bioavailab ility of pollutants\, to which living species are exposed. The survey of b iomarkers may be useful in environmental biomonitoring\, especially for co ntrol of chemical contamination in order to prevent inherent toxic effects .\n\nBiomarker responses traduce abnormalities in individuals\, and are ge nerally considered as indicators of unfavourable situations. Indeed the bi omarker response may be a first signal of a cascade of changes which may l ead to persistent lesions and toxicity at the individual level.\nYet\, som e biomarkers may also indicate that living species were better adaptable t o eliminate the pollutants of concern\, to neutralize or compensate their toxicity. In these cases\, where biomarkers express adaptation and increas ed capacity to detoxication\, the situation is not so unfavourable despite altered environmental conditions. Thus\, beyond the fact that an environm ent may be disturbed\, we also need to know whether toxic insults result i n biological and physiological changes. This explains why several compleme ntary biomarkers are generally used in order to have a complete picture of biological disturbances and their consequences in terms of toxicity. More over\, it may be necessary to know if the toxicity observed at the individ ual level is detrimental at the population level. This confirms the intere st of physiological biomarkers and the usefulness of associating populatio nal bioindicators to biomarkers in environmental field studies.\n\nWe shal l illustrate the use of biomarkers for environmental purposes with two exa mples of our present case studies related to biomarkers for environmental and human health. \n\nOur first example relates to the use of biomarkers f or environmental health. A two-year study in the Moselle river\, using bot h biomarkers and populational indicators\, was carried out in order to dem onstrate the complementarity of ecotoxicological and ecological indices\, and also to answer the following question : to which extent\, the biomarke r responses measured at the individual level in vertebrate (fish) and inve rtebrate (bivalves) species\, were consistent with the ecological quality of the area studied?\n\nThe second example deals with biomarkers used for assessing sanitary risks due to the transfer of contaminants in the food c hain\, from invertebrates to humans. The aim of our study was to estimate potential effects on consumers\, related to ingestion of food contaminated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Our purpose was to establish the threshold below which consumption of food was deemed devoid of effects in mammals\, which justified the study of biomarkers of exposure to these pollutants. DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20030123T161500 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20030123T235959 LOCATION:H6 SUMMARY:Prof. Paule Vasseur\, Environmental Toxicology\, University of Metz \, France: Biomarkers in Ecotoxicology TRANSP:TRANSPARENT END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR