Abstract
The use of fish to monitor metal contamination is well established, but existing studies often focus on internal tissues that require the sacrifice of organisms. Developing non-lethal methods is thus a scientific challenge to enable large scale biomonitoring of wildlife health. We explored blood as a potential non-lethal monitoring tool for metal contamination in brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) as a model species. First, we investigated differences in metal contamination loads (i.e., Cr, Cu, Se, Zn, As, Cd, Pb and Sb) in different blood components (whole blood, red blood cells and plasma). Whole blood was reliable to measure most metals, implying that blood centrifugation is not necessary, thus minimizing sample preparation time. Second, we measured the within individual distribution of metals across tissues (whole blood, muscle, liver, bile, kidney and gonads) to test if blood could be a reliable monitoring tool compared to other tissues. Results show that the whole blood was reliable compared to muscle and bile to measure the levels of metals such as Cr, Cu, Se, Zn, Cd and Pb. This study opens the possibility for future ecotoxicological studies in fish to use blood instead of internal tissues to quantify some metals, thus reducing the negative impacts of biomonitoring on wildlife.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Annie Perrault for help with dissections, Marie-Jo Tavella for help in the clean room and Camille Duquenoy and Aurélie Marquet (both at the ICP-MS platform at the Observatoirie Midi-Pyrenees, Toulouse, France) for assistance with the ICP-MS analysis. This project was made possible thanks to the generous support by the AXA Research Fund Postdoctoral fellowship (Project 14-AXA-PDOC-030); the Prestige/Campus France, co-funded by Marie Curie; Postdoctoral fellowship (Project PRESTIGE-2014-1-0037); the Labex DRIIHM OHM Vicdessos (Project CABAC); the Université Fédérale Midi-Pyrénées and the Région Occitanie (Projects POLLPAT-pilote and POLLPAT) and the ANR JCJC (MULTIPAT ANR-21-CE34-0018-01). L. Jacquin is a Junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France. EDB is part of the Labratoire d’Excellence Labex TULIP.
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SVH designed the study; SVH and SJ performed the dissections; JG performed all sample preparation, digestions and ICP-MS analysis under the supervision of SVH; LG performed statistical analyses and graphical work with inputs from SVH and LJ; all authors participated in the interpretation of results; LG wrote the manuscript under the guidance of SVH, LJ.
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The authors declare that collection and sacrifice of all fish included in this study was performed in accordance to local guidelines and regulations, i.e., authorized by Direction Départementale des Territoires (DDT) de l’Ariège, with inputs from either the Fédération de Pêche de l’Ariège or the Association Agréée de Pêche et de Protection des Milieux Aquatiques (AAPPMA), and the service départemental de l’Office Français de la Biodiversité (OFB).
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Gouthier, L., Jacquin, L., Giraud, J. et al. Metal Contaminants in Fish: Blood as a Potential Non-lethal Monitoring Tool. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 111, 12 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-023-03762-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-023-03762-0