Partitioning of persistent organic pollutants in grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) mother–pup pairs

Sørmo, EG; Skaare, J.U.; Lydersen, Christian; Kovacs, K. M.; Hammill, Michael O.; Jenssen, Bjørn Munro

doi:10.1016/s0048-9697(02)00300-5

Cited by 57 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Values >1 indicate a higher preference of the compounds for maternal serum or milk compared to maternal inner blubber or maternal serum, respectively. These ratios were calculated only for late lactation as this is the stage of lactation with the highest POP transfer (Debier et al, 2003b;Sørmo et al, 2003;Vanden Berghe et al, 2010).…”

Section: Partitioning Between Tissuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because seals are top predators, have a long life span and are characterised by high lipid content (blubber), large concentrations of POPs are found in their tissues, especially in the blubber (Sørmo et al, 2003;Weijs et al, 2009b). When food intake is irregular or nonexistent during breeding, lactation and moulting in most species of seals, important amounts of POPs are mobilised from blubber into the bloodstream, exposing targeted organs to increased concentrations of toxicants (Debier et al, 2006;Vanden Berghe et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When food intake is irregular or nonexistent during breeding, lactation and moulting in most species of seals, important amounts of POPs are mobilised from blubber into the bloodstream, exposing targeted organs to increased concentrations of toxicants (Debier et al, 2006;Vanden Berghe et al, 2010). During lactation, seals produce lipid-rich milk containing high levels of POPs (Debier et al, 2003b;Frouin et al, 2012;Sørmo et al, 2003;Vanden Berghe et al, 2010). Suckling newborns are thus exposed to high amounts of toxic chemicals, while being in a critical developmental period of their life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lactational transfer of PCBs and OCPs in seals is more important at late lactation (Debier et al, 2003b). In addition, it appears to be selective, with a preferential transfer of mostly less lipophilic compounds from mother to pup, as shown for grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) (Debier et al, 2003a;Pomeroy et al, 1996;Sørmo et al, 2003). The lactational transfer of PBDEs in marine mammals has been much less investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Selective transfer of persistent organic pollutants and their metabolites in grey seals during lactation

Berghe

Weijs

Habran

et al. 2012

Environment International

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oTwenty grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) mother-pup pairs from the colony of the Isle of May (Scotland) were sampled at early and late lactation in order to study the transfer of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and their metabolites (HO-PCBs and HO-PBDEs) as well as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), such as DDT and metabolites (DDXs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). The transfer of the naturally produced MeO-PBDEs was also investigated. Generally, concentrations (on a lipid weight basis) of the sum of PCBs, PBDEs and DDXs tended to be higher in all tissues at late lactation (for maternal outer blubber ΣPCBs = 3860 ± 2091 ng/g, ΣPBDEs = 120 ± 74 ng/g and ΣDDXs = 559 ± 207 ng/g; for maternal inner blubber ΣPCBs = 4229 ± 3274 ng/g, ΣPBDEs = 148 ± 118 ng/g and ΣDDXs = 704 ± 353 ng/g; for maternal serum ΣPCBs = 1271 ± 796 ng/g, ΣPBDEs = 27 ± 16 ng/g and ΣDDXs = 242 ± 125 ng/g; for milk ΣPCBs = 1190 ± 747 ng/g, ΣPBDEs = 55 ± 36 ng/g and ΣDDXs = 357 ± 160 ng/g; for pup serum ΣPCBs = 1451 ± 901 ng/g, ΣPBDEs = 48 ± 31 ng/g and ΣDDXs = 395 ± 201 ng/g). In all tissues, ΣMeO-PBDEs were found at very low levels or even undetected and their concentrations appeared to increase at late lactation only in maternal inner blubber (2.7 ± 1.3 to 5.3 ± 2.9 ng/g for early and late lactation, respectively) and milk (0.6 ± 0.3 to 1.1 ± 0.5 ng/g for early and late lactation, respectively). The transfer from inner blubber to maternal serum was selective and strongly depended on the log K ow value of the compounds, with less lipophilic compounds being more efficiently released. Only a limited amount of HO-PCBs was transferred during lactation as 4-HO-CB-107 was the only metabolite detected in milk (29 to 40 pg/g lw). On the contrary, most of HO-PCB metabolites found in maternal serum were also detected in pup serum. These findings suggest not only a transplacental transfer of HO-PCBs from mothers to pups but also the possibility of endogenous biotransformation in suckling pups or accumulation of undetectable low amounts from milk.

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Section: Partitioning Between Tissuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Selective transfer of persistent organic pollutants and their metabolites in grey seals during lactation

Berghe

Weijs

Habran

et al. 2012

Environment International

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“…While extensive studies described PCBs and PBDEs in blubber and other tissues of caught or stranded marine mammals, fewer data were documented in blood of free-ranging seals and harbour porpoises (Bang et al, 2001;Sørmo et al, 2003;Sørmo, 2005). Levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in blood depend not only on environmental contamination; but also numerous biotic factors are suspected to modulate concentrations: gender, diet, age, pregnancy, lactation and weaning (Debier et al, 2006).…”

Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concentrations of chlorinated and brominated contaminants and their metabolites in serum of harbour seals and harbour porpoises

Weijs

Das

Siebert³

et al. 2009

Environment International

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Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are top predators in the North Sea and consequently accumulate a variety of pollutants in their tissues. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and their hydroxylated metabolites (HO-PCBs and HO-PBDEs) were measured in serum of wild harbour seals (n = 47) and captive harbour porpoises (n = 21). Both species exhibit long life spans and do not have extreme situations, such as complete fasting during periods of lactation, in their annual cycles. For PCBs, concentrations in adult males were slightly higher than in juveniles and lowest in juvenile females. For PBDEs, juveniles have higher levels than adult males and females, probably as a consequence of lactational transfer. However, differences between these age-gender groups were not statistical significant, indicating that individual variation was limited within each species, even without knowing the feeding status of the animals. Body condition, particularly emaciation, has a major influence on the levels of chlorinated and brominated contaminants in serum. Profiles of PCBs were CB 153 N CB 138 N CB 187 N CB 180 and CB 153 N CB 138 N CB 149 N CB 187 N CB 180 for harbour seals and porpoises respectively. For PBDEs, BDE 47 was the predominant congener followed by BDE 100 and 99 in both species. In harbour seals, concentrations of sum PCBs (median: 39,200 pg/ml) were more than 200 times higher than levels of sum PBDEs (median: 130 pg/ml) and almost 10 times higher than concentrations of sum HO-PCBs (4350 pg/ml). In harbour porpoises, concentrations of sum PCBs (median: 24,300 pg/ml) were about 20 times higher than concentrations of PBDEs (median: 1300 pg/ml). HO-PCBs were detected in only 4 harbour porpoises and this at very low concentrations. Naturally-produced MeOPBDEs were only found in harbour porpoises at concentrations ranging from 120 to 810 pg/ml. HO-PBDEs were not found in any species. In general, harbour seals accumulate less compounds and have mostly lower concentrations than harbour porpoises possibly as a result of a better developed metabolism.

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Bioamplification as a Bioaccumulation Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Wildlife

Daley

Paterson

Drouillard

2013

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology

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Persistent organic pollutant bioaccumulation models have generally been formulated to predict bioconcentration and biomagnification. A third bioaccumulation process that can mediate chemical fugacity in an organism is bioamplification.Bioamplification occurs when an organism loses body weight and the chemical partitioning capacity occurs at a rate that is faster than the chemical can be eliminated.Although bioamplification has not been widely recognized as a bioaccumulation process, the potential consequences of this process are significant. Bioamplification causes an increase in chemical fugacity in the animal's tissues and results in there distribution of contaminants from inert storage sites to more toxicologically sensitive tissues. By reviewing laboratory and field studies, we have shown in this paper that bioamplification occurs across taxonomic groups that include, invertebrates,amphibians, fishes, birds, and mammals. Two case studies are presented, and constitute multi-life stage non-steady state bioaccumulation models calibrated for yellow perch and herring gulls. These case studies were used to demonstrate that bioamplification is predicted to occur under realistic scenarios of animal growth and seasonal weight loss. Bioamplification greatly enhances POP concentrations and chemical fugacities during critical physiological and behavioral events in an animal's life history, e.g., embryo development, juvenile stages, metamorphosis, reproduction, migration, overwintering, hibernation, and disease. Consequently,understanding the dynamics of bioamplification, and how different life history scenario scan alter tissue residues, may be helpful and important in assessing wildlife hazards and risks.

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Partitioning of persistent organic pollutants in grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) mother–pup pairs

Cited by 57 publications

References 24 publications

Selective transfer of persistent organic pollutants and their metabolites in grey seals during lactation

Selective transfer of persistent organic pollutants and their metabolites in grey seals during lactation

Concentrations of chlorinated and brominated contaminants and their metabolites in serum of harbour seals and harbour porpoises

Bioamplification as a Bioaccumulation Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Wildlife

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