EFFECT OF AN ACUTE EXPOSURE TO SUBLETHAL CONCENTRATIONS OF CADMIUM ONLIVER CARBOHYDRATE-METABOLISM OF ATLANTIC SALMON (SALMO-SALAR)

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.