Environmental and health implications of Pb-bearing particles in settled urban dust from an arid city affected by Pb-Zn factory emissions.

Metal-rich particles originating from non-ferrous metallurgical activities are the primary source of atmospheric metals in urban environments. These particles vary in size, morphology, and elemental compositions and they undergo weathering processes that alter their composition and affect their toxicity. This study focuses on lead (Pb)-rich particles in settled urban dust within an arid and dusty city, Torreón in North Mexico, affected by Met-Mex Peñoles complex, one of the world's largest Ag-Cd-Pb-Zn smelting and refining facilities in operating since 1901.

Metals and oxidative stress in aquatic decapod crustaceans: A review with special reference to shrimp and crabs.

The objective of this review is to synthetize knowledge of the relationship between metals and oxidative stress in aquatic crustaceans (mainly shrimp and crabs) to analyze antioxidant responses when organisms are exposed to metals because the direct metal binding to the active site of enzymes inactivates most of the antioxidant systems. This study reviewed over 150 works, which evidenced that: (i) antioxidant defense strategies used by aquatic decapod crustaceans vary among species; (ii) antioxidant enzymes could be induced or inhibited by metals depending on species, concentration, and exposure time; and (iii) some antioxidant enzymes, as superoxide dismutase increase their activity in low metal levels and time exposures, but their activities are inhibited with higher metal concentrations and exposure time.

DNA Damage and Immunological Responses in the Whiteleg Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) Exposed to Sublethal Levels of Mercury.

Litopenaeus vannamei juveniles were exposed to sublethal levels (2.33-18.03 µg/L) of inorganic mercury.