Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička Cesta 54, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia.
Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, 3400, Klosterneuburg, Austria.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 May;30(23):63510-63521. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-26844-2. Epub 2023 Apr 13.
In the present study, essential and nonessential metal content and biomarker responses were investigated in the intestine of fish collected from the areas polluted by mining. Our objective was to determine metal and biomarker levels in tissue responsible for dietary intake, which is rarely studied in water pollution research. The study was conducted in the Bregalnica River, reference location, and in the Zletovska and Kriva Rivers (the Republic of North Macedonia), which are directly influenced by the active mines Zletovo and Toranica, respectively. Biological responses were analyzed in Vardar chub (Squalius vardarensis; Karaman, 1928), using for the first time intestinal cytosol as a potentially toxic cell fraction, since metal sensitivity is mostly associated with cytosol. Cytosolic metal levels were higher in fish under the influence of mining (Tl, Li, Cs, Mo, Sr, Cd, Rb, and Cu in the Zletovska River and Cr, Pb, and Se in the Kriva River compared to the Bregalnica River in both seasons). The same trend was evident for total proteins, biomarkers of general stress, and metallothioneins, biomarkers of metal exposure, indicating cellular disturbances in the intestine, the primary site of dietary metal uptake. The association of cytosolic Cu and Cd at all locations pointed to similar pathways and homeostasis of these metallothionein-binding metals. Comparison with other indicator tissues showed that metal concentrations were higher in the intestine of fish from mining-affected areas than in the liver and gills. In general, these results indicated the importance of dietary metal pathways, and cytosolic metal fraction in assessing pollution impacts in freshwater ecosystems.
在本研究中，我们研究了从受采矿污染地区采集的鱼类肠道中的必需和非必需金属含量以及生物标志物反应。我们的目的是确定负责饮食摄入的组织中的金属和生物标志物水平，这在水污染研究中很少研究。该研究在布雷加利纳河（北马其顿共和国）进行，该河为参考地点，同时在泽列托夫斯卡河和克里瓦河（北马其顿共和国）进行，这两条河分别受到泽列托夫矿和托兰尼卡矿的直接影响。使用肠道细胞溶质作为潜在毒性细胞部分，首次分析了瓦尔达尔泥鳅（Squalius vardarensis；Karaman，1928 年）的生物反应，因为金属敏感性主要与细胞溶质相关。在受采矿影响的鱼类中，细胞溶质中的金属水平更高（泽列托夫斯卡河中的 Tl、Li、Cs、Mo、Sr、Cd、Rb 和 Cu，以及克里瓦河中的 Cr、Pb 和 Se 与布雷加利纳河相比，两个季节均如此）。总蛋白、一般应激生物标志物和金属硫蛋白（金属暴露的生物标志物）的相同趋势表明，肠道细胞受到干扰，而肠道是饮食中金属吸收的主要部位。所有地点的细胞溶质 Cu 和 Cd 的关联表明，这些金属硫蛋白结合金属具有类似的途径和内稳态。与其他指示组织的比较表明，受采矿影响地区鱼类的肠道中金属浓度高于肝脏和鳃中的金属浓度。总的来说，这些结果表明，在评估淡水生态系统中的污染影响时，饮食金属途径和细胞溶质金属部分非常重要。
