Assessment of human health risks caused by consumption of commercial fish caught in the Gorky Reservoir

UDC: 
639.29: 546.4: (282.247.414.2)
DOI: 
10.21668/health.risk/2026.1.05.eng
Authors: 

A.A. Payuta, E.A. Flerova, Y.V. Zaitseva

Organization: 

P.G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University, 14 Sovetskaya Str., Yaroslavl, 150003, Russian Federation

Abstract: 

Research objects were represented by bream, zander, and sabrefish as valuable commercial fish species from the Gorky Reservoir. The aim of the study was to determine the elemental composition of the muscle tissue and gonads of fish from the Gorky Reservoir and to assess the human health risks associated with consuming this fish.

Fish was caught by trawl at the stations in the reservoir. Muscle tissue and gonads were selected for analysis, weighed, and frozen at -18 °C until analysis. In the laboratory, the tissues were dried at 60 °C to constant mass, ground in a laboratory mill, and then ashed in a muffle furnace at 550 °C. Cd, Pb, Al, Co, Ni, Zn, Cu, Li, Cr, and V were determined in the samples using an Agilent 7500 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) (USA), and Mn, Fe, and Mg were determined using a KVANT 2-AT spectrophotometer (Kortec Ltd., Moscow, Russian Federation). Potassium content was determined using flame emission spectrometry. Fish consumption was calculated based on FAO data, taking into account the mass fraction of meat and gonads.

Assessment of the associated human health risks involved calculating the hazard coefficient, the cumulative risk, the chronic daily intake of metals, the cancer risk, and the total cancer risk. Elevated contents of several metals were found in sabrefish tissues relative to bream and zander. This may be due to a wider feeding spectrum of this species. The obtained values of the daily intake of metals from the tissues of the examined fish did not exceed the permissible daily intake and the recommended daily allowance for the adult population. The values of the target hazard quotient and the total hazard index for all elements did not exceed the permissible threshold. The value of the total target cancer risk caused by consuming bream meat exceeded permissible levels. Non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk indicators were higher for consumption of consuming bream tissues relative to zander and sabrefish tissues.

Our findings can be used for informing the population about potential health risks caused by consumption of local commercial fish species caught in the Gorky Reservoir.

Keywords: 
heavy metals, bream, zander, sabrefish, Gorky Reservoir, non-carcinogenic risk, carcinogenic risk
Payuta A.A., Flerova E.A., Zaitseva Y.V. Assessment of human health risks caused by consumption of commercial fish caught in the Gorky reservoir. Health Risk Analysis, 2026, no. 1, pp. 54–64. DOI: 10.21668/health.risk/2026.1.05.eng
References: 
  1. Vu C.T., Lin C., Yeh G., Villanueva M.C. Bioaccumulation and potential sources of heavy metal contamination in fish species in Taiwan: assessment and possible human health implications. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int., 2017, vol. 24, no. 23, pp. 19422–19434. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-9590-4
  2. Bošković N., Joksimović D., Bajt O. Content of trace elements and human health risk assessment via consumption of commercially important fishes from Montenegrin coast. Foods, 2023, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 762. DOI: 10.3390/foods12040762
  3. Ayim E.M., Sam-Uket N.O., Onejeme J.T., Owali I.O. Heavy Metal Concentrations and Potential Human Health Risk for Consuming Gills, Muscles, Liver and Gonads of Silver Catfish (Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus) Reaped from Great Kwa River, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manag., 2024, vol. 28, no. 12, pp. 3973–3982. DOI: 10.4314/jasem.v28i12.4
  4. Bagheri S., Gholamhosseini A., Hoseinifar S.H., Banaee M. Investigation of the effects of heavy metals (copper, cobalt, manganese, selenium, and zinc) on fish immune systems – An overview. Ann. Anim. Sci., 2024, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 1025–1035. DOI: 10.2478/aoas-2024-0017
  5. Payuta A.A., Flerova E.A., Zaitseva Yu.V. Distribution of Essential and Toxic Elements in Pelecus cultratus Tissues and Risk Assessment for Consumer Health. Toxics, 2023, vol. 11, no. 8, pp. 715. DOI: 10.3390/toxics11080715
  6. de Almeida C.C., Dos Santos Baião D., de Almeida Rodrigues P., Dillenburg Saint’Pierre T., Hauser-Davis R.A., Leandro K.C., Paschoalin V.M.F., da Costa M.P., Conte-Junior C.A. Toxic metals and metalloids in infant formulas marketed in Brazil, and child health risks according to the target hazard quotients and target cancer risk. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2022, vol. 19, no. 18, pp. 11178. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191811178
  7. Kachestvo poverkhnostnykh vod Rossiiskoi Federatsii: Ezhegodnik 2022 [Quality of surface waters in the Russian Federation]. In: M.M. Trofimchuk ed. Rostov-na-Donu, FGBU «Gidrokhimicheskii institut» Publ., 2023, 613 p. (in Russian).
  8. Tomilina I.I., Lozhkina R.A., Gapeeva M.V. Water quality assessment in the Gorky Reservoir (Volga River, Russia) based on biotesting and chemical analysis. Ecosystem Transformation, 2025, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 145–160. DOI: 10.23859/estr-230403
  9. Lozhkina R.A., Tomilina I.I. Ecological and Toxicological Status of Bottom Sediments of the Gorki Reservoir (Accord-ing to Biotesting and Chemical Analysis Data). Inland Water Biol., 2025, vol. 18, pp. 232–244. DOI: 10.1134/S1995082924600935
  10. Minin A.E., Kataev R.K., Postnov D.I. Stock characteristics, dynamics and efficiency of using of the main commercial fish species, prospects of catching at the Gorky reservoir. Voprosy rybolovstva, 2023, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 141–160. DOI: 10.36038/0234-2774-2023-24-3-141-160 (in Russian).
  11. Payuta A.A., Flerova E.A. Some indicators of metabolism in the muscles, liver, and gonads of pike-perch Sander lu-cioperca and sichel Pelecus cultratus from the Gorky Reservoir. J. Ichthyol., 2019, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 255–262. DOI: 10.1134/S0032945219020152
  12. Mishchenko A.V., Bityutskaya O.E., Lavrinenko O.I. Predvaritel'nye marketingovye issledovaniya assortimenta rynka ikry chastikovykh ryb [Preliminary marketing research of the range of ordinary fish caviar]. Obrazovanie, nauka i molodezh'-2018: sbornik trudov po materialam nauchno-prakticheskikh konferentsii FGBOU VO «KGMTU» [Education, Science and Youth-2018: collection of papers based on materials of scientific and practical conferences of the Federal State Budgetary Edu-cational Institution of Higher Education «KSMTU»]. In: E.P. Masyutkin ed. Kerch', FGBOU VO «Kerchenskii gosudarstvennyi morskoi tekhnologicheskii universitet» Publ., 2018, pp. 25–30 (in Russian).
  13. Pokorska-Niewiada K., Witczak A., Protasowicki M., Cybulski J. Estimation of target hazard quotients and potential health risks for toxic metals and other trace elements by consumption of female fish gonads and testicles. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2022, vol. 19, no 5, pp. 2762. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19052762
  14. Ovsienko S.V., Kuz’mina N.E., Shchukin V.M., Khorolskaya E.A. Development of a Comprehensive Approach to Assessing the Content of Elemental Contaminants in Native Herbal Medicinal Products, Using Pumpkin Seeds as a Case Study. Vedomosti Nauchnogo tsentra ekspertizy sredstv meditsinskogo primeneniya. Regulyatornye issledovaniya i ekspertiza le-karstvennykh sredstv, 2022, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 149–160. DOI: 10.30895/1991-2919-2022-12-2-149-160 (in Russian).
  15. Price P.S. The Hazard index at thirty-seven: new science new insights. Curr. Opin. Toxicol., 2023, vol. 34, pp. 100388. DOI: 10.1016/j.cotox.2023.100388
  16. Jovanović D.A., Marković R.V., Teodorović V.B., Šefer D.S., Krstić M.P., Radulović S.B., Ivanović Ćirić J.S., Janjić J.M., Baltić M.Ž. Determination of heavy metals in muscle tissue of six fish species with different feeding habits from the Danube River, Belgrade – public health and environmental risk assessment. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int., 2017, vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 11383–11391. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-8783-1
  17. Ali H., Khan E. Bioaccumulation of non-essential hazardous heavy metals and metalloids in freshwater fish. Risk to human health. Environ. Chem. Lett., 2018, vol. 16, pp. 903–917. DOI: 10.1007/s10311-018-0734-7
  18. Jia Y., Wang L., Qu Z., Wang C., Yang Z. Effects on heavy metal accumulation in freshwater fishes: species, tissues, and sizes. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int., 2017, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 9379–9386. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-8606-4
  19. Naumenko E.N., Khlopnikov M.M., Rudynskaya L.V. Energy flows in the Vistula Lagoon of the Baltic Sea. Zhurnal Sibirskogo federal'nogo universiteta. Seriya: Biologiya, 2012, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 184–202 (in Russian).
  20. Prysiazhniuk N., Slobodeniuk O., Horchanok A. Nutrition and fodder relations of Pelecus cultratus (L.) in Kremenchuk reservoir. Prospects and achievements in applied and basic sciences: Abstracts of IV International Scientific and Practical Conference, Budapest, Hungary, February 9–12, 2021, pp. 22–24.
  21. Authman M.M., Zaki M.S., Khallaf E.A., Abbas H.H. Use of fish as bio-indicator of the effects of heavy metals pollu-tion. J. Aquac. Res. Dev., 2015, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1–13. DOI: 10.4172/2155-9546.1000328
  22. Pinheiro J.P.S., de Assis C.B., Munoz-Penuela M., Barbosa Junior F., Correia T.G., Moreira R.G. Water temperature and acid pH influence the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of aluminum in the freshwater teleost Astyanax altiparanae (Teleostei: characidae). Chemosphere, 2019, vol. 220, pp. 266–274. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.12.143
  23. Aschner M., Skalny A.V., Santamaria A., Rocha J.B.T., Mansouri B., Tizabi Y., Madeddu R., Lu R. [et al.]. Epigenetic mechanisms of Aluminum-Induced neurotoxicity and alzheimer’s disease: A focus on Non-Coding RNAs. Neurochem. Res., 2024, vol. 49, no. 11, pp. 2988–3005. DOI: 10.1007/s11064-024-04214-9
  24. Aluminium (from all sources, including food additives). In book: Evaluation of certain food additives and contaminants: sixty-seventh report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives: WHO Technical Report Series, 2007, no. 940, pp. 33–45.
  25. Institute of Medicine (US) Panel on Micronutrients. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc. Washington, DC, Na-tional Academies Press, 2001, 773 p. DOI: 10.17226/10026
  26. García-Barrera T., Gómez-Ariza J.L., González-Fernández M., Moreno F., García-Sevillano M.A., Gómez-Jacinto V. Biological responses related to agonistic, antagonistic and synergistic interactions of chemical species. Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 2012, vol. 403, no. 8, pp. 2237–2253. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-012-5776-2
  27. Skalnaya M.G., Tinkov A.A., Demidov V.A., Serebryansky E.P., Nikonorov A.A., Skalny A.V. Hair toxic element content in adult men and women in relation to body mass index. Biol. Trace Elem. Res., 2014, vol. 161, no. 1, pp. 13–19. DOI: 10.1007/s12011-014-0082-9
  28. Alekseenko S.I., Skalny A.V., Ajsuvakova O.P., Skalnaya M.G., Notova S.V., Tinkov A.A. Mucociliary transport as a link between chronic rhinosinusitis and trace element dysbalance. Med. Hypotheses, 2019, vol. 127, pp. 5–10. DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.03.007
  29. Gatiatulina E.R., Sheina E.A., Nemereshina O.N., Popova E.V., Polyakova V.S., Agletdinov E.F., Sinitskii A.I., Skalny A.V. [et al.]. Effect of Zn supplementation on trace element status in rats with diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver
    disease. Biol. Trace Elem. Res., 2020, vol. 197, no. 1, pp. 202–212. DOI: 10.1007/s12011-019-01985-z
  30. Kozhin A.A., Vladimirsky B.M. Microelementoses in human pathology of ecological etiology (Literature Review). Ekologiya cheloveka, 2013, no. 9, pp. 56–64 (in Russian).
  31. Barone G., Storelli A., Garofalo R., Mallamaci R., Storelli M.M. Residual levels of mercury, cadmium, lead and arsenic in some commercially key species from Italian coasts (Adriatic Sea): Focus on human health. Toxics, 2022, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 223. DOI: 10.3390/toxics10050223
  32. Alipour H., Banagar Gh.R. Health risk assessment of selected heavy metals in some edible fishes from Gorgan Bay, Iran. Iran. J. Fish. Sci., 2018, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 21–34. DOI: 10.22092/IJFS.2018.115582
  33. Aschner M., Skalny A.V., Paoliello M.M.B., Tinkova M.N., Martins A.C., Santamaria A., Lee E., Rocha J.B.T. [et al.]. Retinal toxicity of heavy metals and its involvement in retinal pathology. Food Chem. Toxicol., 2024, vol. 188, pp. 114685. DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2024.114685
  34. Kapoor R.T., Mfarrej M.F.B., Alam P., Rinklebe J., Ahmad P. Accumulation of chromium in plants and its repercussion in animals and humans. Environ. Pollut., 2022, vol. 301, pp. 119044. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119044
  35. Onishchenko G.G., Zaitseva N.V., Popova A.Yu., May I.V., Ustinova O.Yu., Trusov P.V., Le T.H.H., Kleyn S.V. [et al.]. Analiz riska zdorov'yu v strategii gosudarstvennogo sotsial'no-ekonomicheskogo razvitiya [Health risk analysis in the strategy for the state social and economic development]: monograph in 2 vol. In: G.G. Onishchenko, N.V. Zaitseva eds. Moscow, Perm, PNRPU Publ., 2024, vol. 1, 580 p. (in Russian).
Received: 
03.10.2025
Approved: 
19.02.2026
Accepted for publication: 
26.03.2026

You are here

Home