We performed the first known study of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) concentrations and patterns in the blubber and liver of a Hubbs' beaked whale. Samples were pretreated with Supelclean™ sulfoxide and Discovery® Ag-ION solid phase extraction cartridges to remove whale oil. PCB concentrations in the blubber and liver were 13,000 and 7300ng/g lipid, respectively. Highly poisonous congeners such as dioxin-like (DL) PCBs tended to accumulate in the liver. The toxic equivalents (TEQ) of DL-PCBs in the liver (740pg-TEQ/g lipid) were higher than those in the blubber (74pg-TEQ/g lipid). The blubber and liver samples showed that hexachlorinated biphenyls were dominant among homologues, and PCB-153 was dominant among congeners. Several congeners accumulated disproportionately in the blubber and the liver (PCB-28, 52, 74, 99, and 118), while others did not persist (PCB-31, 70, and 110). This indicates that PCBs are metabolized differently according to their specific composition.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.09.051 | DOI Listing |
Environ Res
January 2025
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, National Wildlife Research Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0H3, Canada. Electronic address:
Metabolomics measures low molecular weight endogenous metabolites and changes linked to contaminant exposure in biota. Few studies have explored the relationship between metabolomics and contaminants in Arctic wildlife. We analyzed 239 endogenous metabolites and ∼150 persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including total mercury (THg), in the liver of polar bears and their ringed seal prey harvested from low Canadian Arctic (western Hudson Bay; WHB) and high Arctic (HA) locations during 2015-2016.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
North Slope Borough, Department of Wildlife Management, Utqiaġvik, AK 99723, USA; Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99708, USA.
Ringed (Pusa hispida), bearded (Erignathus barbatus), spotted (Phoca largha), and ribbon (Histriophoca fasciata) seals are ice-associated seals that are important subsistence resources for coastal Alaska Native people. These seals are also mid- to upper trophic level Arctic predators and primary prey of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). We analyzed concentrations of 19 trace elements in seal liver, kidney, muscle, and blubber, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and vanadium due to their potential toxicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
December 2024
Center for Environmental Health Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA; Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA. Electronic address:
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
October 2024
Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FIN-80101, Joensuu, Finland.
The Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis) is a subspecies of ringed seal, landlocked in Lake Saimaa, Finland. The small population of less than 500 seals is facing many human-induced threats, including chemical contaminants. Mercury, in particular, has previously been suggested to be one of the chemicals affecting the viability of this endangered population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Hazard Mater
September 2024
Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
The Yangtze finless porpoise (YFP, Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) is the only freshwater cetacean found in China. However, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) risks in YFPs remain unclear. In this study, legacy PFASs, their precursors and alternatives, were determined in YFP muscles (n = 32), liver (n = 29), kidney (n = 24), skin (n = 5), and blubbers (n = 25) collected from Poyang Lake (PL) and Yangtze River (YR) between 2017 and 2023.
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