Biomarkers and Effects

Abstract This chapter describes how effects of exposure to contaminants manifest within organisms impairing physiological or cellular functioning and how these changes can be identified through the use of biomarkers. Generally, a biomarker is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers have been used in environmental toxicology and monitoring since the early 1980s and have undergone a rapid development in terms of sensitivity and specificity ever since. With the recent developments in molecular high-throughput techniques for the generation of massive gene and protein expression data and growing practical impracticability of traditional environmental risk assessment, new promising perspectives are opening for the development of contaminant-specific biomarkers and an increased rationalization in the environmental risk assessment process. Here we give an overview of the most important biomarkers of contamination and their application in the marine environment, followed by an introduction to the different molecular high-throughput or omic techniques which are elemental tools for the discovery of new specific biomarkers able to meet the future challenges of emerging contamination. Finally, future developments and trends within this field will be explored.