M. Roch

TL;DR: The results suggest that coho salmon may become acclimation to higher levels of copper and that acclimated fish are more tolerant to copper than control animals.

TL;DR: Four groups of 600 juvenile coho salmon of 3-8g body weight were exposed to sublethal concentrations of copper acetate in water of hardness 280 mg/l (as CaCO3) and metallothionein concentrations increased as a function of the copper concentration to maximum levels after 4 weeks of continuous exposure and thereafter remained more or less constant.

TL;DR: The ratio of rates of uptake of copper and synthesis of metallothionein was consistent with published values for the copper content of copper-thionein, and tolerance to copper exhibited by fish that continued to be exposed to it was partially lost after 4 weeks depuration.

TL;DR: Hepatic metallothionein concentrations after 4 weeks of exposure in situ was correlated with the degree of contamination as measured by zinc concentrations (P less than 0.01), but no acclimation to a combination of zinc, copper and cadmium.

TL;DR: Rainbow trout developed elevated hepatic metallothionein concentrations after 4 weeks in a solution containing zinc, copper and cadmium in a fixed ratio of 400:20:1 because the combined toxicity of the metals in the mixture was additive.