Monitoring pollution in River Mureş, Romania, part II: Metal accumulation and histopathology in fish

Abstract

As a part of an exposure and effect monitoring conducted along the river Mureş, Western Romania in 2004, the health status of two indigenous fish species, sneep (Chondrostoma nasus) and European chub (Leuciscus cephalus) was investigated upstream and downstream the city of Arad. In fish, histopathology was assessed in liver and gills, and heavy metals (cadmium, copper, lead and zinc) were analyzed in liver samples. In both fish species, histopathological reactions in the gills (epithelial lifting, focal proliferation of epithelial cells of primary and secondary lamellae and resulting fusion of secondary lamellae, hyperplasia and hypertrophy of mucous cells, focal inflammation and necrosis of epithelial cells) were most severe at the two sampling sites upstream Arad city, which were shown to be polluted by copper, cadmium, faecal coliforms and streptococci in a parallel study. At these two sites, also histopathology in the liver of L. cephalus was more prominent than at the two downstream sites. In C. nasus, symptoms in the liver (focal inflammation with lymphocytic infiltrations, macrophage aggregates and single cell necrosis) were also highly pronounced at the sampling site located directly downstream the municipal sewage treatment plant of Arad. With the exception of copper accumulation in L. cephalus caught at the most upstream sampling site, in both fish species cadmium and copper accumulation were exceptionally high and did not differ significantly between the four sampling sites.

Ichthyofauna as bioindicator of environmental quality in an industrial district in the amazon estuary, Brazil

“…In our study, for both types of habitats, however, while species richness was lower in Zone 1, which is most vulnerable to industrial contamination, most species were constant, which appears to reflect their capacity to adapt to impacted environments. This does not necessarily mean that the area is healthy given the possibility of chronic processes, such as the accumulation of heavy metals in body tissue and histological alterations of vital organs, such as the liver, kidneys and gills (Triebskorn et al, 2008). In the same study area, Viana et al (2012) observed that, for P. squamosissimus and L. dorsalis (main species), clear evidence of histological alterations in the specimens captured in the most impacted area (Zone 1) and severe and irreversible alterations of the liver have been registered for these species (Viana et al, 2012).…”

Assessment of the State of the Gibel Carp Carassius auratus gibelio in the Amur River Basin: Heavy-Metal and Arsenic Concentrations and Histopathology of Internal Organs

“…Pathological alterations in fish are recognized as biomarkers of environmental pollution and are widely used in water-quality monitoring programs in many countries. Of particular value in detecting histopathological biomarkers of the toxic effects of pollutants is the analysis of liver pathologies (Handy et al 2002;Stentiford et al 2003;Feist et al 2004;Triebskorn et al 2008). Numerous articles have reported that estimating the ecological state of aquatic environments degraded by pollutants requires the use of a variety of biological indicators, including biomarkers and bioindicators for fish.…”

Metals Toxic Effects in Aquatic Ecosystems: Modulators of Water Quality

“…The efects on organisms' growth and development were triggered by the inhibition of enzymatic systems involved in protein synthesis and cell division. The metal type modulates the bioaccumulation level and enzymatic systems vulnerability generating a multitude of efects, toxic or not [42,43].…”

“…The efects on organisms' growth and development were triggered by the inhibition of enzymatic systems involved in protein synthesis and cell division. The metal type modulates the bioaccumulation level and enzymatic systems vulnerability generating a multitude of efects, toxic or not [42,43].In order to understand the interaction mechanism between the toxic metals and the aquatic organisms and how organisms answer to metal contamination, more information on bioavailability is needed [44]."t the present, many studies on the assessment of acute and chronic toxicity of metals mentioned the following parameters: survival, growth, development, reproduction, behavior, accumulation, efects on enzyme systems, etc. In Table , LC (EC) 0-lethal concentrations for 0% of tested organisms after 9 or 48 h M"TC-maximum acceptable toxicant concentration in aquatic systems NOEC-no observed efect concentration LOEC-low observed efect concentration.…”