Moving from lab to field to assess cardiorespiratory and metabolic contaminant effects in fish

鱼类的心肺毒性和代谢毒性不仅是一系列污染物共有的影响，而且也是最敏感的影响之一。韦伯和JANZ NSERC的发现、战略和接洽研究计划都将重点放在检查环境毒物的亚致命影响上。Weber和Janz使用的非致命性测量游泳能力、新陈代谢、心血管功能和肝脏/性腺大小的方法需要额外的设备，其形式为1)一个游泳隧道，其大小适合于评估成年小体鱼或较大鱼种的游泳率和活动代谢率，例如在加拿大工业场所下游发现的那种；2)能够准确测量基础代谢的呼吸仪；以及3)现场可部署的超声波，其中等分辨率用于心血管功能和肝脏/性腺大小的评估。所有这些方法都是非致命性的，因此提供了对相同个体进行重复采样的优势，以减少实验变异性，减少动物样本量，并消除了从低生产力或濒危系统对鱼类进行致命性采样的必要性。这些技术的适用性很广，从Weber和Janz已经研究过的石油污染物、金属开采和铀废水的影响，到城市污水、煤炭开采、水电设施和热污染或全球变暖的影响。我们旨在通过开发和改进新的创新方法来评估正常鱼类和暴露在有毒物质中的鱼类的游泳、呼吸、代谢和心血管功能以及器官大小，以增加对这些过程的基本了解，但具体目标是将这些方法从实验室带到现场。

Cardiorespiratory and metabolic toxicity in fish has emerged not only as an effect common to a surprisingly broad range of contaminants, but is also one of the most sensitive effects. Both the Weber and Janz NSERC Discovery, Strategic and Engage research programs have a major focus on examining sub-lethal effects of environmental toxicants. Methods employed by Weber and Janz to non-lethally measure swimming ability, metabolism, cardiovascular function and liver/gonad size require additional equipment in the form of 1) a swim tunnel in the size suitable to assess swimming and active metabolic rate in adult small-bodied fish or juveniles of larger fish species such as that found downstream of industrial sites in Canada, 2) a respirometer capable of accurately measuring basal metabolism and 3) a field deployable ultrasound with intermediate resolution for cardiovascular function and liver/gonad size assessment in similar-sized fish. All of these methods are non-lethal, thus offering the advantage of repeated sampling of the same individuals to reduce experimental variability, reducing animal sample size and negating the need for lethal sampling of fish from low productivity or endangered systems. Applicability of these techniques is wide, spanning from examining effects of petroleum contaminants, metal mining and uranium effluents as has already been examined by Weber and Janz, but also to effects of municipal sewage, coal mining, hydroelectric installations and thermal pollution or global warming. We aim to increase fundamental understanding of these processes by developing and refining novel and innovative methods to evaluate swimming, respiratory, metabolic and cardiovascular function as well as organ size in normal fish and fish exposed to toxic substances, but with the specific goal to take these methods from the laboratory to the field.