CoulArray detector as a tool for estimation of acute toxicity of silver(I) ions

Abstract

Biochemical markers suitable for monitoring of environmental pollution as well as for protecting of human health are searching. In this study, the effect of silver(I) ions on guppy fishes (Poecilia reticulata) was investigated. For this purpose, we employed hyphenated technique of high performance liquid chromatography coupled with multichannel CoulArray electrochemical detector. Content of cysteine in fishes treated with 0.5 and/or 1 mu g/l of silver(I) ions was 290 and/or 240 ng/g at the end of seven day long treatment. Reduced and oxidized glutathione were also determined. The enhance in GSSG content accompanied by decrease in GSH content confirms our hypothesis on increasing risk of oxidative stress in fishes due to treatment with silver(I) ions. In addition, we attempted to gain more information about health state of animals exposed to heavy metals from chromatograms measured by CoulArray detector. We counted areas of all signals detected up to 30 minutes in chromatograms of tissues from fishes treated with all concentrations of silver(I) ions. The content of thiols and thiols related compounds as a sum of signals areas enhanced with increasing concentration of silver(I) ions and time of exposition.