Jl. Soengas et al., EFFECT OF AN ACUTE EXPOSURE TO SUBLETHAL CONCENTRATIONS OF CADMIUM ONLIVER CARBOHYDRATE-METABOLISM OF ATLANTIC SALMON (SALMO-SALAR), Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology, 57(4), 1996, pp. 625-631
Heavy metals have been shown to exert a wide range of effects on fishe
s, from metabolic and physiological to behavioral and ecological (Fors
tner and Wittman, 1981). Cadmium is a heavy metal commonly used in eco
toxicological studies because of its concentration arises in the envir
onment due to industrial and domestic sewage waste streams (Pickering
et al. 1989). In fish, cadmium has adverse effects growth and reproduc
tion and causes osmoregulatory stress, and it was shown to alter the s
tructure and function of various organs, including liver (Lemaire-Gony
and Lemaire, 1992). Reports on the stress response of fish to cadmium
are scarce, and the available information is not consistent. Particul
arly, the specific effects of cadmium on energy-producing metabolic pa
thways in fishes have received little attention existing only a few st
udies describing changes in plasma glucose or lactate levels (Thomas a
nd Neff, 1985; Tort and Torres, 1988; Pratap and Wendelaar-Bonga, 1990
) but in none of them changes in the pathways of carbohydrate metaboli
sm were assessed. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to chara
cterize some of the effects of cadmium on several pathways of carbohyd
rate metabolism in livers of Atlantic salmon.