Analysis of As, Pb and Cu contents in muscle tissue of Oncorhynchus mykiss and Barbus barbus caughted from Sirvan River, Kurdistan, Iran

The presence of heavy metals in the environment and especially bioaccumulatioin of these compounds in tissues of aquatic organisms could constitute be a hazard to food security and public health. Therefore, this study was conducted to analysis of As, Pb and Cu contents in muscle tissue of Oncorhynchus mykiss and Barbus barbus captured from the Sirvan River, Kurdistan in 2019.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a total of 30 fish samples were collected randomizelly from five sampling stations along the Sirvan River. After samples preparation, As, Pb and Cu concentrations were determined using ICP–OES. Also, all statistical analyses of the obtained data were performed using SPSS software.

The results showed that the mean concentrations of As, Pb and Cu (µg/g, wet weight) in muscle tissue of Oncorhynchus mykiss were 0.022, 0.034, and 0.078, respectively, while in muscle tissue of Barbus barbus were found to be 0.018, 0.012 and 0.042, respectively. Also, the mean contents of all the analyzed elements were lower than maximum permissible concentration (MPC) established by FAO/WHO, ATSDR, FDA and EU.

Although at the time of this research the contribution to the total body burden of the analyzed elements can be considered as negligibly small, mismanagement of land uses around the Sirvan River could lead to the entry of several kinds of pollutants such as pesticides and potentially toxic elements into the water body. Consequently, adverse health effects could be occured for local consumers through ingestion of fishes with high accumulated heavy metals in their tissues.