Teresa Balbi

Università degli Studi di Genova | UNIGE · Dipartimento di Scienze della terra, dell'ambiente e della vita (DISTAV)

Contaminants of Emerging Concerns (CECs) are defined as chemicals not commonly monitored in aquatic ecosystems, but with the potential to cause adverse effects on biota. CECs include Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) and Neuro-Endocrine disruptors (NEDs) of vertebrates. However, most invertebrates only rely on neuroendocrine systems to maintain...

Tetrabromobisphenol A-TBBPA, a widely used brominated flame retardant detected in aquatic environments, is considered a potential endocrine disruptor-ED for its reproductive/developmental effects in vertebrates. In aquatic invertebrates, the modes of action of most EDs are largely unknown, due to partial knowledge of the mechanisms controlling neur...

Bisphenol A-BPA, a widespread plastic additive, is an emerging contaminant of high concern and a potential endocrine disruptor in mammals. BPA also represents a potential threat for aquatic species, especially for larval stages. In the marine bivalve Mytilus galloprovincialis, BPA has been previously shown to affect early larval development and gen...

The microbiota, the host-associated community of microbes, play important roles in health status and whole body homeostasis of all organisms, including marine species. In bivalves, the microbiota composition has been mainly investigated in adults, whereas little information is available during development. In this work, the microbiota composition o...

Bivalves are widespread in coastal environments subjected to a wide range of environmental fluctuations: however, the rapidly occurring changes due to several anthropogenic factors can represent a significant threat to bivalve immunity. The mussel Mytilus spp. has extremely powerful immune defenses toward different potential pathogens and contamina...

Bivalve biomineralization is a highly complex and organized process, involving several molecular components identified in adults and larval stages. However, information is still scarce on the ontogeny of the organic matrix before calcification occurs. In this work, first shell formation was investigated in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. The...

In aquatic organisms, early life stages are highly sensitive to environmental perturbations. This particularly applies to marine calcifying species. In this study the physiology of early development of the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis was analyzed with different techniques for a better understanding of the processes underpinning s...

Embryonic shell development of Mytilus spp. has long been used as a model to test the effects of stressors and toxicants. The efficiency is given by the similar and consistent shell phenotypes readily identifiable in D-Veligers shell morphologies. However, the low specificity of the phenotypes observed in D-Veligers and the absence of earlier time-...

The possible impact of carbamazepine (CBZ) and propranolol (PROP), two widespread pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment, were investigated on morphology and gene transcription of early larvae of Mytilus galloprovincialis. Pharmaceuticals were first tested in a wide concentration range (from 0.01 to 1000 μg/L) through the 48-hpf embryotoxicity...

Molluscs have been widely utilized to evaluate the effects of estrogenic compounds, one of the most widespread classes of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals-EDCs. However, knowledge on steroid signaling and metabolism in molluscs has considerably increased in the last decade: from these studies, a considerable debate emerged on the role of ‘natural’ st...

Cerium nanoparticles (nCeO2) are increasingly utilized in a wide variety of industrial, environmental and biomedical applications, and are therefore expected to be released in the aquatic environment. Due to its peculiar redox properties, nCeO2 may present unique hazards to environmental and human health. Previous data showed that in the hemocytes...

Vibrio coralliilyticus has emerged as a coral pathogen of concern throughout the Indo-Pacific reef. The interest towards understanding its ecology and pathogenic potential has increased since V. coralliilyticus was shown to be strongly virulent also for other species; in particular, it represents a serious threat for bivalve aquaculture, being one...

In order to assess the impact of nanoplastics on marine species, polystyrene nanoparticles (PS NPs) have been largely used as model particles. Here we studied the effects of 50 nm aminomodified PS-NH2 on Mediterranean sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus immune system cells (coelomocytes) in the presence of celomic fluid (CF) and at different NP concen...

Diclofenac-DCF, one of the most widely prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, is globally detected in environmental compartments. Due to its occurrence in freshwater and potential impact on aquatic organisms, it has been added to the watch list of chemicals in the EU Water Directive; consequently, research on the impact of DCF in model aq...

Over the last decades, the growth in nanotechnology has provoked an increase in the number of its applications and consumer products that incorporate nanomaterials in their formulation. Metal nanoparticles are released to the marine environment and they can interact with cells by colloids forces establish a nano-bio interface. This interface can be...

Autophagy is a highly conserved and regulated catabolic process involved in maintaining cell homeostasis in response to different stressors. The autophagic machinery is also used as an innate immune mechanism against microbial infection. In invertebrates, that lack acquired immunity, autophagy may thus play a key role in the protection against pote...

A series of Sm³⁺ doped Lu2O3 nanoparticles have been synthesized via a simple co-precipitation method using oxalic acid as precipitant. The obtained compounds showed a platelet-like morphology with diameter ranging between 10 and 14 nm. The cell parameters increased with the increase of doping, due to the substitution of Lu³⁺ with larger Sm³⁺; also...

The development of nanotechnology will inevitably lead to the release of consistent amounts of nanoparticles (NPs) in the environment. Invertebrates, that represent > 90% of animal species, widespread in different ecosystems, are emerging both as suitable target organisms and as models for evaluating the environmental impact of NPs. Once released i...

The potential release of nanoparticles (NPs) into aquatic environments represents a growing concern for their possible impact on aquatic organisms. In this light, exposure studies during early life stages, which can be highly sensitive to environmental perturbations, would greatly help identifying potential adverse effects of NPs. Although in the m...

The utilization of different types nanomaterials (NMs) in environmental remediation and wastewater treatment requires information on the potential harmful effects on human and environmental health. In this light, the utilization of human cell models together with cells from lower organisms, representative of different environmental compartments, co...

Mussels (Mytilus spp.) are worldwide utilized in marine biomonitoring by a multi-biomarker approach. However, for a correct interpretation of different biomarker responses, information is needed on their natural seasonal variability due to environmental/physiological factors. In this work, the seasonal variations of different biomarkers were invest...

In aquatic environments, bivalve mollusks represent an important ecological niche for microorganisms. Persistence of bacteria in bivalve tissues partly depends on their capacity to survive the bactericidal activity of the hemolymph due to both cellular (hemocyes) and soluble serum factors (e.g., enzymes, lectins, opsonins). The extrapallial protein...

Fe-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by sol–gel method using titanium tetraisopropoxide as the precursor of titania, 2-propanol as solvent, iron(III) chloride as dopant source through calcination at 350 °C. Three different types of samples were synthesized. Samples were characterized by means of X-ray powder diffraction, diffuse reflectance sp...

Despite the growing concern over the potential biological impact of nanoparticles (NPs) in the aquatic environment, little is known about their interactions with other pollutants. The bivalve Mytilus sp, largely utilized as a sentinel for marine contamination, has been shown to represent a significant target for different types of NP, including n-T...

Some biological aspects of Parapenaeus longirostris in the Ligurian Sea were studied. The deep-water rose shrimp presents a sexual dimorphism, females reaching sizes larger than males. The females size at first maturity is 25.85 mm. Mature females are present throughout the year with higher percentage during autumn/winter seasons. Catch rates indic...

Il gambero rosa Parapenaeus longirostris (H. Lucas, 1846) è un crostaceo decapode (fam. Penaeidae) con un’ampia distribuzione geografica che include l’intero bacino del Mediterraneo dove rappresenta una frazione importante dello sbarcato commerciale in molte aree (Abello et al., 2002). Per quanto riguarda le acque italiane, questo crostaceo rappres...