Heavy metal pollution is a concern in many coastal locations where it is frequently deleterious to the survival of young shellfish. Consequently, a great number of commercial shellfish hatcheries around the world rely on the addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to seawater to ensure successful larval production. Despite the importance of this practice to global shellfish production the mode of action of EDTA in larval production remains undetermined. It is assumed EDTA chelates heavy metals in seawater preventing interference in larval development. Larval mussels (Perna canaliculus) raised in seawater with 3 μM EDTA had a 15 fold higher yield than those without EDTA. The concentration and spatial arrangement of heavy metals in larvae as determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS) and X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy (XFM) was consistent with reduced bioavailability of several metals, especially copper and zinc. This is the first study to confirm the effectiveness of EDTA for managing metal pollution commonly encountered in coastal shellfish hatcheries.

中文翻译：

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检查乙二胺四乙酸（EDTA）在海水中重金属污染的幼体贝类生产中的作用。

在许多沿海地区，重金属污染是一个令人关注的问题，在这些地区，有害金属经常对年轻贝类的生存有害。因此，世界上许多商业贝类孵化场都依赖于向海水中添加乙二胺四乙酸（EDTA）来确保幼体的成功生产。尽管这种做法对全球贝类生产很重要，但EDTA在幼体生产中的作用方式仍未确定。假定EDTA螯合海水中的重金属，防止对幼体发育的干扰。含3μMEDTA的海水中养殖的幼体贻贝（Perna canaliculus）的产量比不含EDTA的幼体贻贝高15倍。通过电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICPMS）和X射线荧光显微镜（XFM）测定的幼虫中重金属的浓度和空间排列与几种金属（尤其是铜和锌）的生物利用度降低相一致。这是第一个证实EDTA在管理沿海贝类孵化场中常见的金属污染方面的有效性的研究。