Ion in liver of brown trout was found in 1516647 a study of Clements and Rees [57]. Reynders et al. [19] found significant differences in CF of caged carp among sites but no significant relationship with accumulated metal. In a study of Bervoets et al. [61] condition factor was significantly related to metal load in the CB 5083 kidney but not in the other tissues. Knapen et al. [31] however, found significant differences in K for gudgeon along the same pollution gradient and reference site. However, lowest K was observed at the reference site and the least contaminated site of the gradient. Other studies did not find any relationships between environmental pollution and condition factor in fish [59,62]. In the present study the described variation in CF by hepatic metal levels was rather low, which can be attributed to other factors than (metal) pollution such as habitat quality and food availability [63]. A negative but weak relationship was found for gudgeon between hepatic Cd and the hepatosomatic index. This is in contrast to what was found by Ozmen et al. [60] and Bervoets et al. [61] who found a positive relationship between hepatic Cd levels and HSI in carp. However, Pereira et al. [64] measured a decreased HSI in winter flounder (Pleuronectes americanus) exposed to high cadmium concentrations for 71 days. Since MTs are also induced by Hg and Ag, the approach of the MTt/MTm-ratio is only valid in a study area with low levels of those metals. In the present study we Hg and Ag were measured in 
the livers (data not shown) but levels were not significant among sites and species and generally very low or often even below the detection limit. Moreover, from the database of Flemish Environment Agency (www.vmm.be) it was obvious that concentrations of both metals were low in the pollution gradient. If we compare the ratios 
of the theoretical over the actual MT levels perch proved to induce less MTs compared to the two other species. From this observation we would expect that perch is more sensitive to the metal pollution than the other two species. This was however not tested in the present study and relationships between the MTt/MTm-ratio and condition indices were nonsignificant or only weak relationships were found such as for perch with K and for gudgeon with the HSI. The absence of clear relationships between the MTt/MTm-ratio, which can be considered as a measure for sensitivity could be due to other factors influencing those indicators. Possibly other sub-lethal endpoints such as growth or reproduction should be selected in order to assess the protective effect of MT on fish condition or health. From this study we can conclude that different fish species exposed within a same pollution gradient differentially accumulate metals and differentially induce metal binding proteins. Perch accumulated highest levels of Cd and Zn but showed the lowest detoxification capacity. Only few and weak relationships between detoxification capacity and measured endpoints could be found.Metallothioneins in Three Freshwater Fish SpeciesProbably more sensitive chronic effects have to be studied that are less affected by other environmental factors.Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: LB RB. Performed the experiments: LB KVC DK. Analyzed the data: LB DK MDJ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LB RB . Wrote the paper: LB DK MDJ.AcknowledgmentsWe thank Tine Moermans, Tom De Bie, Liesbeth, Bruyndoncx, K162 Veerle Mees, and Judith Voets for as.Ion in liver of brown trout was found in 1516647 a study of Clements and Rees [57]. Reynders et al. [19] found significant differences in CF of caged carp among sites but no significant relationship with accumulated metal. In a study of Bervoets et al. [61] condition factor was significantly related to metal load in the kidney but not in the other tissues. Knapen et al. [31] however, found significant differences in K for gudgeon along the same pollution gradient and reference site. However, lowest K was observed at the reference site and the least contaminated site of the gradient. Other studies did not find any relationships between environmental pollution and condition factor in fish [59,62]. In the present study the described variation in CF by hepatic metal levels was rather low, which can be attributed to other factors than (metal) pollution such as habitat quality and food availability [63]. A negative but weak relationship was found for gudgeon between hepatic Cd and the hepatosomatic index. This is in contrast to what was found by Ozmen et al. [60] and Bervoets et al. [61] who found a positive relationship between hepatic Cd levels and HSI in carp. However, Pereira et al. [64] measured a decreased HSI in winter flounder (Pleuronectes americanus) exposed to high cadmium concentrations for 71 days. Since MTs are also induced by Hg and Ag, the approach of the MTt/MTm-ratio is only valid in a study area with low levels of those metals. In the present study we Hg and Ag were measured in the livers (data not shown) but levels were not significant among sites and species and generally very low or often even below the detection limit. Moreover, from the database of Flemish Environment Agency (www.vmm.be) it was obvious that concentrations of both metals were low in the pollution gradient. If we compare the ratios of the theoretical over the actual MT levels perch proved to induce less MTs compared to the two other species. From this observation we would expect that perch is more sensitive to the metal pollution than the other two species. This was however not tested in the present study and relationships between the MTt/MTm-ratio and condition indices were nonsignificant or only weak relationships were found such as for perch with K and for gudgeon with the HSI. The absence of clear relationships between the MTt/MTm-ratio, which can be considered as a measure for sensitivity could be due to other factors influencing those indicators. Possibly other sub-lethal endpoints such as growth or reproduction should be selected in order to assess the protective effect of MT on fish condition or health. From this study we can conclude that different fish species exposed within a same pollution gradient differentially accumulate metals and differentially induce metal binding proteins. Perch accumulated highest levels of Cd and Zn but showed the lowest detoxification capacity. Only few and weak relationships between detoxification capacity and measured endpoints could be found.Metallothioneins in Three Freshwater Fish SpeciesProbably more sensitive chronic effects have to be studied that are less affected by other environmental factors.Author ContributionsConceived and designed the experiments: LB RB. Performed the experiments: LB KVC DK. Analyzed the data: LB DK MDJ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LB RB . Wrote the paper: LB DK MDJ.AcknowledgmentsWe thank Tine Moermans, Tom De Bie, Liesbeth, Bruyndoncx, Veerle Mees, and Judith Voets for as.
