Dariush Naghipour - Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Engineering, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, GuilanUniversity of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Zeinab Shabaninezhad - MSc of Environmental Health Engineering, Student Research Committee, School of Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences,Rasht, Iran
Abdoliman Amouei - Associate Professor of Environmental Health Engineering, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, BabolUniversity of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

Background: Marine products, especially fish, play an increasingly significant role in human diets andhealth. This research evaluated the concentrations of cadmium, lead, chromium, and nickel in liver andmuscle tissues of Rutilus frisii kutum along the Caspian Sea coasts of northern Iran.Methods: Thirty samples of fishes were taken from five stations (Astara, Rezvanshahr, Anazali, Ramsar, andTonekabon) during fishing season. An ICP-OES spectrophotometer was used to determine concentrationsof the studied metals. Data was analyzed by SPSS 19 using descriptive statistical index, t test, and analysisof variance (ANOVA) test; P < 0.05 was considered significant.Results: Mean concentrations of cadmium, lead, chromium and nickel in the livers were 0.06, 1.1, 2.1 and1.5 μg/g respectively and in the muscles were 0.05, 0.8, 1.7 and 1.1 μg/g, respectively. In liver: cadmium=0.01-0.13; lead= 0.3-2.7; chromium = 0.9-4.5; nickel = 0.1-2.8. In muscle: cadmium = 0.01-0.08; lead = 0.2-1.5; chromium = 0.7-2.7; nickel = 0.5-1.5. Mean contents of these heavy metals were higher in the liver thanin muscle. The order of heavy metal concentrations in the liver and muscle tissues were: Cr>Ni>Pb>Cd.The results showed statistically significant differences in the concentrations of these metals in liver andmuscle tissues (P < 0.05), but no significant difference was observed between males and females.Conclusion: Based on calculations, the estimated permissible tolerable weekly intakes (PTWIs) ofcadmium (0.042 and 0.567 mg) and lead (0.0021 and 0.027 mg) in this study are lower than the levelsestablished by the World Health Organization (WHO) (0.455 mg for cadmium and 1.625 mg for lead).

Heavy metals, Rutilus frisii kutum, Caspian Sea