Utilizing a chronopotentiometric sensor technique for metallothionein determination in fish tissues and their host parasites

Metallothionein (MT) are a class of intracellular proteins possessing cysteine-rich and heavy metal-binding properties. They can be utilized as biomarkers for the detection and assessment of heavy metals in environmental pollution. This paper addresses the development of a sensor technique suitable for the determination of MT in the tissue samples of perches and their parasites. The work suggest a heavy metal biosensor based on interaction of heavy metals (lead(II), cadmium(II), copper(II) and silver(I)) with MT using adsorptive transfer stripping (AdTS) technique in combination with chronopotentiometric stripping analysis. The samples were investigated with various heavy metals (lead(II), cadmium(II), copper(II) and silver(I)), prior to sensor applications to understand the interaction between MT and the metals. The results obtained from this experiment clearly show that cadmium(II) had the highest affinity for MT followed by silver(I), copper(II) and lead(II). Based on these results, we attempted to quantify MT content with respect to content of a heavy metal in the samples of interest. The highest re-evaluated concentration of MT (495 ng/g of fresh weight) was determined in samples of Acanthocephalus anguillae.