1. Introduction
The rapid development of industry and agriculture has led to increased levels of inorganic (e.g., metals and trace elements) and organic chemicals in the aquatic environment. Discharge of wastewater enriched with these chemicals can lead to pollution of the aquatic environment and thus affect biological communities [
1]. To protect freshwater biota, it is critical to identify the major pollution activities, their sources, and their impacts on the aquatic environment [
2]. Understanding the effects of different types of anthropogenic pollution on these processes can help develop conservation programmes and strategies to prevent the disruption of freshwater environments [
3].
Metals pose a particular threat to the environment due to their high potential for bioaccumulation and biomagnification in living organisms [
4]. The accumulation and toxicity of heavy metals in fish is multidirectional and leads to physiological and chemical changes in the body of fish. Metals can stimulate excessive formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and disrupt the balance of oxidation-reduction reactions, resulting in structural damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA. The reactive oxygen species, whose main target is lipids, primarily PUFAs in membrane phospholipids, trigger lipid peroxidation (LPO) reactions. Xenobiotics attack cells and damage their structure and function, which can lead to apoptosis and necrosis. [
5]. The presence of contaminants such as metals can greatly affect fatty acid composition [
6,
7,
8,
9]. Fat content and composition can vary greatly between different fish species and even within the same species when reared under different conditions [
10]. The fatty acid composition of fish can be influenced by many environmental and biological factors, such as fish species, nutritional status, size, age, reproductive cycle, salinity, temperature, geographic location, and season. Reportedly, the amount of lipids (total fatty acids) in fish decreases during the cold season. The studies have also shown that the unsaturated fatty acid content varies significantly depending on the season, which may affect the nutritional properties and storage conditions of fish. In general, a decrease in temperature leads to an increase in the degree of unsaturation [
11,
12]. In particular, FA composition, degree of unsaturation, and changes in the relative abundance of individual fatty acids have been shown to respond to contamination levels both in experiments and in practise [
13,
14]. Because fish are at the top of the aquatic food chain and are used in human diets, they are important indicators for environmental biomonitoring [
15]. Fish muscle is an important source of fatty acids (FA), especially long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) [
1,
16]. Among PUFAs, omega-3 FA are important because of their involvement in several biological processes and their nutritional significance [
17].
The roach (
Rutilus rutilus) is omnivorous and feeds on plant and animal matter. They feed opportunistically and eat a variety of small invertebrates such as insects, crustaceans, and mollusks. The diet of the roach is diverse and adaptable, allowing it to survive in a number of different water bodies, making this species very widespread. The white bream (
Blicca bjoerkna) is a benthivorous fish that feeds on benthic invertebrates such as insect larvae, mollusks, crustaceans, and small fish. They also feed on aquatic vegetation such as algae, plant debris, and macrophyte seeds, especially during the warmer months of the year. Overall, the diet of white bream is highly variable and influenced by many factors such as season, location, and food availability [
18].In Serbia, the lack of wastewater treatment and practices leads to pollution of water resources with heavy metals and other pollutants, which damages the aquatic ecosystem. Belgrade is the most important industrial area in Serbia, and the largest industrial capacities are located mainly on the banks of the Danube. The main problem related to pollution in Belgrade is the discharge of wastewater without prior treatment [
19]. Recently, non-traditional biochemical biomarkers, namely fatty acid profiles of organisms, have been tested and proposed as reliable indicators of pollution levels [14, 20–22]. Changes in lipid metabolism and profiles of FA have been used to better understand how pollution affects key organisms in aquatic food webs and as an integrative biochemical response to contaminant exposure and accumulation in aquatic organisms [
20] involving several studies with metals [
23,
24], making them promising biomarkers for contaminant exposure assessment. Lipid metabolism and fatty acid profiles have been studied to better understand how pollution affects key organisms in aquatic food chains. These studies help us understand how pollutants accumulate in aquatic organisms and how they respond to exposure. Previous studies with metals support the use of lipid metabolism and FA profiles as valuable biomarkers for assessing contaminant exposure [
20,
23,
24]. Most of the studies deal exclusively with the accumulation of heavy metals or compositional analysis of FA [
25,
26,
27,
28]. In this context, the primary objective of this study was to determine the effects of bioaccumulation of untreated municipal wastewater on the FA content of roach and white bream. We examined the FA profile of fish in relation to metal pollution concentrations in two urban areas with different pollution loads.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study site and sample collection
A total of 16 specimens of roach and bream were collected by commercial fishermen at each locality in April 2021 (8 individuals per species).Veliko Ratno Ostrvo (VRO) is located at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers It is separated from the urban environment of the city of Belgrade and is considered as a reference place. The locality of Višnjica (VIS) is exposed to the discharge of the largest sewage collector in the city of Belgrade and additionally suffers from anthropogenic pressure caused by the presence of a port for recreational boats (
Figure 1). Fish total body length and total body weight were measured. Length and weight of the sampled fish were in the interval of 22-29 cm and 190-400 g, respectively (See supplementary table S2). For elemental and fatty acid analysis, samples of muscle tissue were collected from each specimen of both species. Samples were washed with distilled water and stored at -20 °C before analysis.
2.2. Elemental accumulation analysis
Analytical portions of approximately 0.5 g (wet weight) were accurately weighed and then processed in a microwave-digestion system. Samples were mineralized by adding 9 mL of 65% HNO3 and 1 mL of 30% H2O2 (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany). Microwave-assisted digestion was performed in ETHOS EASY Advanced Microwave Digestion System 230 V/50 Hz, Milestone, Italy. After cooling, digested samples were diluted with distilled water to a total volume of 25 mL. To assess the possible presence of trace elements in the reagents or carry-over effect of the digestion vessels, five reagent blanks were prepared during sample preparation, one per each session, according to the described procedure. These samples were analyzed in each analytical batch. All solutions were stored in polyethylene bottles until the trace elements (As, Hg, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, and Zn) were measured using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), the Thermo Scientific™ iCAP™ 7400 ICP-OES. The single element mercury (Hg) calibration standard (1000 mg/ml) and the multi-element standard (100 mg/ml 21 components) purchased from CPAChem, Bulgaria, were used to prepare the calibration standards for the performed ICP-OES analysis. All measurements were performed in triplicate. Thermo Scientific Qtegra Intelligent Scientific Data Solution (ISDS) software was used for data acquisition and processing. The detection limits were 1 ppb for Ni, Cd, Cr, Co and Hg, 2 ppb for As and 30 ppb for Zn.
2.3. Fatty acid profile analysis
Samples of muscle tissue - about 25 g per sample were measured. Before homogenization, an appropriate amount of anhydrous Na2SO4 and PetrolEtra was added to each sample (10 g of anhydrous Na2SO4 and 15 ml of PetrolEtra are added to 10 g of tissue). Then the tissue was homogenized with a Politron, Kinematika (CH -6010 Kriens, Lucerne, Switzerland) for 5 min at speed 5. The supernatant was filtered through filter paper into a flask and evaporated to dryness on a vacuum evaporator from IKA, Germany (IKA RV 10) at 40 °C and 150 rpm.
Analysis of the fatty acid methyl ester profile (FAME) included transesterification by acid methanolysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The extracted lipids (30 mg) were dissolved in 6 mL of methanol with 2-3 drops of concentrated sulfuric acid. The mixture was refluxed at 80 °C for 2 hours and then the pH was adjusted to 7 with NaHCO3 solution (0.1 g/mL water). The FAMEs were collected using hexane (4 × 6 mL). The hexane layer was collected with a Pasteur pipette and dried with 15 g of anhydrous Na2SO4 for 15 min. The solution was filtered to remove the desiccant, and the solvent was removed in a rotary evaporator from IKA, Germany (IKA RV 10) at 40 °C with 150 rpm. The FAME extract was dissolved in hexane (5 mg/mL) and filtered through a Nachlon syringe filters 0.22 µm. Analysis was performed using a GC-MS KP2010 plus, equipped with an AOC 5000 injector (Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan) and a FAME column (Phenomenex, L = 30 m, ID = 0.25 mm, df = 0.50 µm ), and using GCMS solution Ver. 2 software (Shimadzu). Samples (1 µL) were injected in split mode (1:30), with the injector temperature set at 250 °C. Mass spectra were obtained in EI mode (± 70 eV) in the m/z range 50–500 amu (SCAN) mode. Helium (99.999%) was used as carrier gas with a flow rate of 1.34 mL/min. The column was heated linearly from 100 °C (hold for 2 min) to 240 °C with a gradient of 3 °C/min and held at 240 °C for 5 min. The ion source temperature was set to 240 °C; interface temperature up to 260 °C. Constituents were identified by comparing their mass spectra with those of the NIST05, Wiley8, and FFNSC3 libraries using different browsers and a set of FAME standards in a Supelco® 37-component mixture FAME dissolved in hexane (1 mg/mL). Quantitative data were determined from the GC peak area using the area normalization method (results obtained are expressed as relative percentage).
2.4. Statistical Analysis
Initial assessment of the differences between groups was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis H test, which indicated differences in metal concentrations between localities (p < 0.05 was used as the threshold, STATISTICA 12.0). Differences in tissue heavy metal concentrations between different sites of the same species were estimated using a Mann-Whitney test (p < 0.05). To test the presence of metal and trace element accumulation with FA profile, the nonparametric Spearman correlation test (p < 0.05) was used to evaluate the relationship between the tissue metal concentrations and FA composition, using the Hmisc package [
29] in R-Studio 1.4.1103.