Possibilities of electrochemical techniques in metallothionein and lead detection in fish tissues

Abstract

In the present paper, we report on the use of adsorptive transfer stripping technique in connection with chronopotentiometric stripping analysis for metallothionein determination and of differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry for lead detection in tissues of wild perch (<i>Perca fluviatilis</i>, <i>n</i> = 6) from the Svratka River in Brno, Czech Republic. Primarily, we determined the content of MT in tissues (muscles, gonads, liver and spleen) of perch. We measured the highest content of MT in spleen and liver (100&minus;350 ng MT per gram of fresh weight). We assume that the content of MT determined in perch tissues is probably related with the age of the fish and, therefore, with their exposition to heavy metals naturally occurring in the Svratka River. We detected a lead concentration in the tissues of one perch. It clearly follows from the results that the content of MT well correlates with the concentration of lead.