In this study the semi-quantitative RT-PCR was applied to detect gene expression in liver tissue of with different dose for 12 h, 24 h, and 36 h, respectively. Totally 17 stress-related genes were used to analyze the gene expression during stress of the two heavy metals including the catalase, metallothionein, heat shock protein genes, and so on. . stress, and the expression of the other genes belonged to the middle type which meant that those genes were induced in some assays of heavy-metal stress but depressed in the other assays. . In contrast, mRNA abundance of GPx 4a were decreased evidently in liver tissue of , and the expression of the other 13 genes fell into the middle type. Although exposure to Cu²⁺ and Cd²⁺ had diverse effects on the transcription level of the 17 genes, Cu²⁺ induced higher gene expression than Cd²⁺ did. There was no evident dose-dependent or time-dependent responses of these stress-related genes in liver of . The expression levels of stress-related genes greatly varied in liver of , and the results of present study is helpful for further understanding the relationship between gene expression of fish and molecular mechanism of heavy metal detoxification.