New organochlorine contaminants and metabolites in plasma and eggs of glaucous gulls ( Larus hyperboreus ) from the Norwegian Arctic

• Published in: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
• Main Authors: Verreault, Jonathan, Letcher, Robert J., Muir, Derek C.G., Chu, Shaogang, Gebbink, Wouter A., Gabrielsen, Geir W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2005
• Subjects: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis; Environmental Chemistry; Arctic; Bear Island; Larus hyperboreus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1897/05-067r.1; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1897%2F05-067R.1; https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1897/05-067R.1

Abstract The present study investigated new or lesser‐studied and legacy organochlorine (OC) contaminants and metabolites in plasma and eggs of glaucous gulls ( Larus hyperboreus ) collected from major breeding colonies on Bear Island in the Norwegian Arctic. Hexachlorobutadiene was below the method limit of detection (<0.07 ng/g lipid wt) in all samples. The sum (sum) of 20 chlorobornane congener concentrations ranged between 294 and 986 ng/g lipid weight and 104 and 1,121 ng/g lipid weight in plasma and eggs, respectively, whereas those of ∑ 20 polychlorinated naphthalene ranged between 1.34 and 126 ng/g lipid weight in plasma and 1.82 and 162 ng/g lipid weight in eggs. Bis(4‐chlorophenyl) sulfone concentrations ranged between 5.24 and 143 ng/g lipid weight plasma, which is the first report of this contaminant in arctic biota north of Sweden. Based on 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐ p ‐dioxin toxic equivalents (TEQs), partial dioxin‐like toxicity varied between 3.04 and 20.8 ng TEQ/g lipid weight in plasma and 0.94 and 46.5 ng TEQ/g lipid weight in eggs, and largely was due to concentrations of non‐ ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), with a very minor contribution from mono‐ ortho PCBs and polychlorinated naphthalenes. The major aryl sulfone metabolite in plasma was an unidentified hexachlorinated MeSO 2 ‐PCB congener (range: 13.5–551 ng/g lipid wt), whereas the pentachlorinated congeners 3′‐ and 4′‐MeSO 2 ‐CB101 (range: 4.49–38.1 ng/g lipid wt) dominated in eggs. The predominant halogenated phenolic compound (HPC) in plasma was consistently the PCB metabolite 4‐OH‐CB187 (range: 0.29–17.5 ng/g wet wt), whereas in eggs, detectable HPCs were at very low and transient concentrations. As part of a complex profile of contaminant exposure, these chemical classes and metabolites may be contributing factors to enhance physiological stress in breeding glaucous gulls.