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Site-Specific Gastrointestinal Metal Variability in Relation to the Gut Content and Fish Age of Indigenous European Chub from the Sava River

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Abstract

This comprehensive field survey on indigenous European chub (Squalius cephalus L.) presents, for the first time, site-specific variability of trace metal concentrations in the gut content, gastrointestinal tissue and two gastrointestinal sub-cellular fractions, operationally defined as metal-sensitive fraction (S50, which was isolated at 50,000 × g and contains total water soluble proteins), and metal detoxified fraction (heat-treated S50 (HT S50), which contains heat-stable proteins like metallothioneins). At five sampling sites along the Sava River in Croatia 1 to 5-year-old chub were collected in the post-spawning period (September) in order to estimate if metal concentrations in fish intestine are related to their levels in the gut content or fish age. Concentrations of essential metals (Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn) and non-essential Cd decrease in the gut content as follows: Fe > Mn > Zn > Cu > Cd, while in the gastrointestinal tissue: Zn > Fe > Cu ≥ Mn > Cd. Observed difference in metal abundance between the gut content and gastrointestinal tissue points to the selective metal absorption in fish intestine. Relationship among metal concentrations in the gastrointestinal tissue and two sub-cellular fractions (S50/HT S50) is significant for all analysed metals, with Spearman correlation coefficients (r) at p < 0.01 for Zn 0.84/0.73, Cu 0.73/0.73, Fe 0.62/0.58, Mn 0.81/0.78, Cd 0.81/0.82. Site-specific differences point to the age-related increase of gastrointestinal Cu, Mn and Cd towards the downstream sites, while significant correlation between metal concentrations in the gut content and fish age exists only for Mn. In the sub-cellular gastrointestinal fractions, site-specific differences were not recorded on total water-soluble protein and metallothionein concentrations, which might be ascribed to the constitutional level.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of Republic Croatia (project no. 098-0982934-2721) is acknowledged. The authors are also grateful for the valuable help in the fieldwork to all EU FP6 SARIB Project participants and for the useful advice concerning metal determination on HR ICP-MS to Dr. Nevenka Mikac, Dr. Vibor Roje and Željka Fiket, B.Sc. and on AAS to Dr. Zrinka Dragun. We appreciate the assistance of the Meteorological and Hydrological Service Office for reporting the data on hydrological parameters of the Sava River water.

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  1. Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Ruđer Bošković Institute, P.O. Box 180, 10002, Zagreb, Croatia

    Vlatka Filipović Marijić & Biserka Raspor

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  1. Vlatka Filipović Marijić
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Correspondence to Vlatka Filipović Marijić.

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Filipović Marijić, V., Raspor, B. Site-Specific Gastrointestinal Metal Variability in Relation to the Gut Content and Fish Age of Indigenous European Chub from the Sava River. Water Air Soil Pollut 223, 4769–4783 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-012-1233-2

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