title: Distribution of toxins in various tissues of crucian carp intraperitoneally injected with hepatotoxic microcystins.
abstract: An acute toxicity experiment was conducted to examine the distribution and depuration of microcystins (MCs) in crucian carp (Carassius aurutus) tissues. Fish were injected intraperitoneally with extracted MCs at a dose of 200 microg MC-LR (where L=leucine and R=arginine) equivalent/kg body weight. Microcystin concentrations in various tissues and aquaria water were analyzed at 1, 3, 12, 24, and 48 h postinjection using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Microcystins were detected mainly in blood (3.99% of injected dose at 1 h), liver (1.60% at 1 h), gonad (1.49% at 3 h), and kidney (0.14% at 48 h). Other tissues, such as the heart, gill, gallbladder, intestine, spleen, brain, and muscle, contained less than 0.1% of the injected MCs. The highest concentration of MCs was found in blood (526-3,753 ng/g dry wt), followed by liver (103-1,656 ng/g dry wt) and kidney (279-1,592 ng/g dry wt). No MC-LR was detectable in intestine, spleen, kidney, brain, and muscle, whereas MC-RR was found in all examined fish tissues, which might result from organ specificity of different MCs. Clearance of MC-RR in brain tissue was slow. In kidney, the MC-RR content was negatively correlated with that in blood, suggesting that blood was important in the transportation of MC-RR to kidney for excretion.
authors.affiliation: Donghu Experimental Station of Lake Ecosystems, State Key Laboratory of Freswater Ecology and Biotechnology of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Hehua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Gaodao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Xuezhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002347:Carps; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D052998:Microcystins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000633:toxicity; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D052998:Microcystins