Coordinated changes of adenylate energy charge and ATP/ADP: use in ecotoxicological studies

The coordinated variations of the adenylate energy charge and ATP/ADP ratio were modeled and a function that depends on the numerical value of the adenylate kinase-catalyzed reaction has been derived. The model allows sensitive detection of the effects of xenobiotics on adenylate kinase and its cellular environment and offers a robust estimation of the direct or indirect effects of pollutants on the adenylate kinase system: data obtained in laboratory studies on shrimp exposed to cadmium and in field studies on oysters either exposed to polychloro-biphenyl compounds or located in a heavily polluted area indicate that xenobiotics affect the adenylate kinase reaction directly or by changing its cellular environment. These results demonstrate that application of the model to the treatment of ecotoxicological data allows detection of energetic changes that would have been missed by simple analysis of the usual energetic parameters, and should overcome problems encountered in using energetic parameters during assessment of pollution monitoring.