Metallothionein and bioaccumulation of cadmium in juvenile bluegills exposed to aqueous and sediment-associated cadmium

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:6967942

Cope, W G

The author evaluated metallothionein (MT), free (unbound) hepatic cadmium and whole body cadmium as indicators of cadmium exposure in juvenile bluegills Lepomis macrochirus in laboratory tests. Two types of cadmium exposure were tested; aqueous and sediment-associated. In the aqueous tests, fish were exposed to cadmium (0.0 to 32.3 [mu]g/L) in an intermittent-flow diluter. In the sediment-associated cadmium test, fish were exposed to resuspended river sidment containing 1.3 to 21.4 [mu]g Cd/g (dry weight) at a nominal total suspended solids concentration of 1,000 mg/L in revolving, circular glass exposure chambers. Total cadmium concentrations were measured in various bluegill liver fractions, whole bluegill, water, and resuspended sediment to assess the partitioning and bioaccumulation of cadmium after the tests. Mean concentrations of MT and free cadmium in bluegill livers and concentrations of cadmium in whole bluegills were positively correlated with aqueous cadmium concentration and were equally suitable as indicators of aqueous cadmium exposure. Sediment-associated cadmium was biologically available, but to a lesser extent than aqueous cadmium. Cadmium concentrations in whole bluegills exposed to resuspended river sediment were 1.5- to 3.5-fold the concentrations in bluegills in sediment-free controls. Free cadmium and MT concentrations in bluegill liver and whole-body cadmium concentrations in bluegills were positively correlated with the cadmium concentrations in filtered water, resuspended sediment, and bulk river sediment; however, whole-body cadmim concentrations were a more sensitive indicator of exposure to sediment-associated cadmium than either free cadmium or MT concentratons in liver.

• Research Organization: Iowa State Univ. of Science and Technology, Ames, IA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6967942
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
BODY
CADMIUM
CONTAMINATION
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
ECOSYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
FISHERIES
FISHES
GLANDS
LIVER
METALLOPROTEINS
METALLOTHIONEIN
METALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PROTEINS
SEDIMENTS
TOXICITY
VERTEBRATES