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The role of cysteine conjugation in the detoxification of microcystin-LR in liver of bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis): a field and laboratory study

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Abstract

The role of glutathione (GSH) and cysteine (Cys) conjugates in the detoxification of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) in bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) was examined under laboratory and field conditions. Wild individuals of bighead carp were collected from 5 eutrophic lakes along the Yangtze River, while in laboratory experiment, bighead carp were injected intraperitoneally with 500 μg purified MC-LR/kg body weight (bw). Contents of MC-LR and its glutathione (MC-LR-GSH) and cysteine conjugates (MC-LR-Cys) in the liver of bighead carp were determined by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrum (LC–ESI–MS). In laboratory experiment, low concentrations of MC-LR-GSH (mean: 0.042 μg/g dry weight (DW)) were always detectable, and the mean ratio of MC-LR-Cys to MC-LR-GSH was 6.55. While, in field study, relatively high MC-LR-Cys concentration (mean: 0.22 μg/g DW) was detected, whereas MC-LR-GSH was occasionally detectable, and the average ratio of MC-LR-Cys to MC-LR-GSH was as high as 71.49. A positive correlation was found between MC-LR-Cys concentration in the liver of bighead carp and MC-LR content in seston from the five lakes (r = 0.85). These results suggest that MC-LR-Cys might be much more important than MC-LR-GSH in the detoxification of MC-LR in fish liver, and that cysteine conjugation of MC-LR might be a physiological mechanism for the phytoplanktivorous bighead carp to counteract toxic cyanobacteria.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to give our heartfelt thanks to both the anonymous reviewer and Dr. Shugart for their spending time in handling and improving the manuscript. This research was jointly supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China (project title: Lake Water Quality, Water Quantity and Biological Resources Investigation in China, grant number 2006FY110600) and State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology (2008FBZ01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Donghu Experimental Station of Lake Ecosystems, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology of China, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Donghu South Road 7, Wuhan, 430072, People’s Republic of China

    Dawen Zhang, Qiang Yang, Ping Xie, Xuwei Deng, Jun Chen & Ming Dai

  2. Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute for Quality & Safety and Standards of Agricultural Products Research, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanlian Road 602, Nanchang, 330200, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Dawen Zhang

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  1. Dawen Zhang
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  2. Qiang Yang
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Correspondence to Jun Chen.

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Zhang, D., Yang, Q., Xie, P. et al. The role of cysteine conjugation in the detoxification of microcystin-LR in liver of bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis): a field and laboratory study. Ecotoxicology 21, 244–252 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-011-0783-1

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