Accumulation of Cadmium in the Gill,

Accumulation of cadmium in the gill, liver, kidney, spleen, muscle and brain tissues of Cyprinus carpio was studied over 1, 3, 15 and 30 days after exposing the animals to 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 ppm of Cd. Experiments were carried out at 25±1oC and 12 hour regimes of light/dark photoperiod was adapted. ICP-AES spectrophotometric methods were used in determining the tissue levels of cadmium. No mortality was observed during the 30 days of experiments at any Cd concentrations tested. Cadmium levels were significantly higher at all the tissues studied compared with the control levels. Kidney tissue was found to be the target organ in accumulating cadmium in C. carpio at the selected concentrations and exposure periods. The following relationship was found among the tissues in accumulating cadmium; Kidney>Gill>Liver>Spleen> Muscle>Brain. It can be concluded that the variation between the tissues in accumulating cadmium might result from the metabolical, structural and functional differences between the tissues studied