title: Monitoring pollution in river Mureş, Romania, Part III: biochemical effect markers in fish and integrative reflection.
abstract: Along a downstream stretch of River Mureş, Romania, adult males of two feral fish species, European chub (Leuciscus cephalus) and sneep (Chondrostoma nasus) were sampled at four sites with different levels of contamination. Fish were analysed for the biochemical markers hsp70 (in liver and gills) and hepatic EROD activity, as well as several biometrical parameters (age, length, wet weight, condition factor). None of the biochemical markers correlated with any biometrical parameter, thus biomarker reactions were related to site-specific criteria. While the hepatic hsp70 level did not differ among the sites, significant elevation of the hsp70 level in the gills revealed proteotoxic damage in chub at the most upstream site, where we recorded the highest heavy metal contamination of the investigated stretch, and in both chub and sneep at the site right downstream of the city of Arad. In both species, significantly elevated hepatic EROD activity downstream of Arad indicated that fish from these sites are also exposed to organic chemicals. The results were indicative of impaired fish health at least at three of the four investigated sites. The approach to relate biomarker responses to analytical data on pollution was shown to fit well the recent EU demands on further enhanced efforts in the monitoring of Romanian water quality.
authors.affiliation: Animal Physiological Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. heinz-r.koehler@uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Heinz-R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Köhler
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sandu
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Scheil
authors.forename: Erika M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Nagy-Petrică
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Segner
authors.forename: Ilie
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Telcean
authors.forename: Gheorghe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stan
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Triebskorn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005399:Fishes; D005880:Gills / Q000378:metabolism; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D045483:Rivers; D012383:Romania; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D019363:Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1