Mercury and Lead Accumulation, Elimination and Distribution in Zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio) in the Situation of with or without Sediment

Abstract

Experiments were designed to investigate the bioavailability of mercury and lead in water with Zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio). Their body residues were determined during the absorptions and eliminations in the situation of with and without sediment. The concentrations of mercury and lead were determined by the application of microwave digestion-atomic fluorescence spectrometry. We analyze the Relative Bioavailability Change (%)- Simple Moving Average (Rb-SMA), the dynamics parameters of elimination, determined tissues' concentrations and respectively calculated removal rate. Bioavailability of mercury decreased about 10%, and that of lead decreased about 30% in balance. In the situation of with sediment, muscle mercury absorption increased, and head, stomach uptaking of mercury decreased in zebrafishs; Mercury in tissues was easier to remove than that of without sediment in adsorption process. For lead in the situation of with sediment, bioavailability of it decreased due to muscle lead concentration significant reduced. Mercury had more ecological risks than lead. In addition, although could not affirm, former researches were underestimate mercury's, and overestimate lead's human health risk. Keywords-sediment, bioavailability, lead, mercury, Zebrafish.